Just Me
by VideoGameChic
Summary: Watch (or read) as Paul and Dawn's relationship develops from nothing into everything. See how Paul's perception of Dawn changes over time and how his feelings for her change too. Follow the random shenanigans that the two endure as they travel together on a journey...basically everywhere. Rated T for later chapters, JUST IN CASE!
1. Canoe Help Me?

**Haha get it, Canoe...can you...ya know? Boats? Whatever...**

**Yay! I'm starting a new story! With ikarishipping day being yesterday, I was just so inspired to write a new story. (I know that today is technically Sunday, but it is like 1 in the morning, and I still consider it Saturday because I have not gone to sleep yet so just deal with it!)**

**As I was saying, with Ikarishipping day being yesterday, I spent the entire day outlining this story from scratch, and I mean scratch. There was no pieces of it in any of my fanfic. notebooks or anything, completely off the top of my head. Pat on the back for me.**

**So I hope you guys and gals like it. It's from Pauls point of view so...you know read onward.**

**!Generic Disclaimer!**

* * *

Don't get me wrong, I like Hoenn, but I think it is about time that I start heading back to Sinnoh. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning I'm going to catch a boat back to Sinnoh after spending one more night in Petalburgh City. It's mid day, the sun is shining, people are out and about, and here I am by myself, like normal. I walk down the street with my hands in my pockets and feel my stomach growl.

"I better grab a bite to eat before going to the Pokemon Center." I say to myself.

12:45pm-I stop by a local restaurant and order a sandwich and a soda. I sit down at a table by myself and start eating it. I look around, people with their friends, people with their boyfriends and girlfriends, people with their parents and/or siblings, wait one guy across the restaurant is alone too. Wait no, his friend just ran in, so I'm the only person eating alone. Not like I care anyway, I like being alone. Making friends is useless and a complete waste of time, who needs them anyway.

1:30pm-I finish eating my sandwich, drink a little more of my soda, get up and leave. Now I'm walking down the street again…alone.

2:30pm-I get to the Pokemon Center, get my key, and go to my room.

2:44pm- I put my stuff down and let out all of my Pokemon. We go out back and train for a while.

4:30pm-We finish training and head back inside.

5:35pm-I take a shower and get dressed.

6:00pm- I read some of this book that I have been reading lately. It's just my pokemon and me so it's pretty quiet in the room.

7:12pm-I walk to the main lobby, get a snack from a snack machine.

7:13pm- I run into some kid that lost to me in a battle yesterday…I antagonize him.

8:45pm-I watch TV…by myself.

9:45pm- My pokemon are all asleep so I turn off the TV and lay down.

10:13pm- I fall asleep.

My room is really quiet; minus weavile's slight snoring. It might sound lonely that I'm always alone, except for my pokemon, but I'm completely satisfied with my lifestyle, this is normal for me. I don't really want friends, nor do I need them, they just sound like a hassle. When I say I'm alone, I'm not hinting that I'm lonely or anything, it's just a statement of fact. More often then not my pokemon are in their respective pokeballs and it is just me. Reggie says that I should make friends, but he says a lot of things that I don't listen to.

* * *

8:30am- I wake up.

8:45am- I take a shower and get dressed.

9:30am-I put all of my pokemon in their pokeballs.

9:46am- I leave the Pokemon center and head to the docks.

It's around 10 am and I have just boarded the ship. They say that it's going to be a long trip so I better find something to do to pass the time. I look around; it's a fairly nice boat; food, games, and a marvelous view. I didn't see the point in keeping my pokemon locked up in their pokeballs the whole trip, so I released all of them. To no one's surprise they didn't stay with me, they went different ways, but whatever, I don't care what they do as long as they don't get lazy.

* * *

It's been hours into the trip and I have had a pretty decent day so far.

11:25am- I ate some breakfast by myself, it was nice and quiet.

1:17pm-I rested in a lounge chair in the sun and just enjoyed the peaceful sound of the ocean waves in solitude.

3:14pm- I watched pokemon battles on TV.

3:52pm- I sat outside and tried to read my book alon- wait not alone?

"Hey Paul!" a voice sung out.

I looked to my left and put my hands in front of my face so that I could block the sun and see who it was. It was some girl, oh what was her name? As if I remotely remember. I looked at her appearance; long blue hair, big blue eyes, big bright smile…she looks like someone I know but I don't put in the effort to try and remember.

"Well aren't you going to say hi?" She said with a little irritation in her voice.

"Whatever, I'm busy." I said as I went back to reading my book.

"As if I even remember you anyway." I add on.

She gasps at my indifference. "I see you haven't changed at all Paul, you were a jerk then and you're still a jerk now." She replied. I just rolled my eyes and continued to try and read my book.

"You know you don't have to be so mean Paul? It's not like I've done something to deserve it." She growled.

I didn't say anything, I just ignored her.

She crossed her arms, "Fine." She spat as she stormed off.

I don't think I was being mean, I'm just busy. She's the one who came over here and interrupted what I was doing, so what does she expect me to say. I didn't let it bother me though, I just kept reading.

* * *

4:10pm- I go inside and eat some lunch.

4:32pm- I watch two kids argue with each other like idiots…it made me laugh.

4:55pm- Some little girl asks me if had seen her doll.

"Have you seen my doll Mr.?"

"No." I walk away.

5:16pm- I almost slip and break my neck walking down some wet stairs.

"I could have broken my neck! Next time put a sign up or something saying wet floor! You're lucky that I don't report this!" I yell at the janitor.

I walk away.

5:30pm- I was walking around when THAT happened.

So I was walking around the ship, just minding my own business right? I had my hands in my pockets, and was enjoying the ocean breeze when suddenly that girl from before with the blue hair comes up to me and attaches herself to my arm.

"Him!" she randomly rings out.

A group of about 4 or 5 males swarm around us, anticipating her response.

"I'm with him, yup, definitely him. We are together, this is my boyfriend." She says with a huge fake smile stretched across her face.

All of the guys sigh in disappointment; some of them even drop the flowers that they were holding. I look at her in confusion, and raise one of my eyebrows.

"Just play along." She whispers through her teeth.

She looks back at the audience in front of her, " Sorry guys, I'm taken so I can't go out with any of you." They hang their heads in sorrow. "Well if things don't work out then we should totally go out to dinner or something." One of them suggest.

"Oh yeah, for sure. But I wouldn't put you hopes up boys because things are going great between us." She smiles even harder then before and wraps her arms around my neck in a hug. I just stood there waiting for the situation to pass on. The guys sigh in disappointment again and all walk away into different directions. As soon as they were all gone, she sighed a large sigh of relief and let go of me.

"Wow, thanks Paul, those guys would not leave me alone." She says as she laughs and scratches the back of her head.

It would only make sense that someone like her would have so many admirers, after all she IS pretty. I'm not saying I like her or anything, it's just a statement of fact; she is a pretty girl, therefore several people will admire her, plain and simple.

I roll my eyes, "Whatever."

She began fiddling with her fingers, "So can I just chill with you for a little while, just to make sure they don't come back or anything." she asks.

I put my hands in my pockets and start walking away, "I couldn't care less."

She ran to catch up with me, "For the record, I don't actually think that we are together, it was just to make then leave me alone." She exclaimed.

"I'm guessing that happens often?" I say, referring to the admirers.

"More then I'd like, but what can you do?" she says as she laughs.

* * *

I didn't care if she hung out with me or not, I don't hate her or anything. It might seem like I do because of how our last encounter went, but that was just because she was in the way of what I was doing. Honestly as long as she doesn't get in my way, I don't care if she's there. It became obvious that she knew that because she spent the next day and a half together with me. She had dinner with me, and then the next day she had breakfast with me, and then lunch with me. She watched pokemon battles with me, slept in the sun while I read my book, and even trained with me. When she said that she wanted to chill with me, she really meant it.

Right now wasn't too bad though. It was nearing evening and the sun sat just at the bottom of the sky. The air was a nice warm temp. that flew with moderate speed winds, something that was really soothing on the mind. We were sitting at the edge of the boat just looking at the ocean. The sky shined with an array of orange and pink from the setting sun, and the smell of fresh salt water filled the air.

"It's so nice out here on the sea. The sun glistens off of the ocean creating such beautiful colors and the breeze is so relaxing." She purred.

"Yeah, it's an enjoyable scene to take in. Its great to get a break in-between leagues and training. Once we get to Sinnoh I'm going to have to start training harder again so that I can become stronger for when I have my rematch with Brandon." I replied. I didn't see the point in not conversing with her, she's here so I might as well talk to her.

"So, that's why you're going back to Sinnoh?"

"Yeah, I am determined to finally defeat him. I will not lose to him again." I said.

"Well I'm sure that you will win, I have confidence in you." She said as she smiled at me.

I looked at her, I mean REALLY looked at her. She smiled brightly with confidence in her eyes as the wind blew her hair. Who was she again?

* * *

_**~Flashback~**_

**-Oreburgh Gym-**

"Can't wait to see a gym battle!" Dawn yelled in excitement.

"You've never seen one?!" The gym leader asked in surprise.

"No, and I want to learn everything about them that I can!"

"Well then it's fine with me, hey Paul how about you?"

"No prob, I really couldn't care less."

-Later that same day-

Dawn lunged at Paul in anger "You think you're funny don't you?!"

Brock had to grab her in order to keep her from kicking Paul's face in.

"You nasty, insulting spoiled brat, apologize!" She yelled as she tried to fight Paul. (Yes we ALL remember that Oreburgh Gym scene :D).

**-In that weird maze-**

"Paul, have you seen Ash or Brock anywhere?" She asked.

"Not you too."

"Well pardon me for living, bye!" She stormed off in a huff.

**-Walking outside that Pokemon center during the Sinnoh League-**

We walked together out of the pokemon center.

"Hey Dawn! Paul!" Ash yelled as he started running towards us.

"Look, Ash is just like any other trainer that I have to battle in the quarter finals. And I'm going to have to beat him if I want to win the Sinnoh league." I said to her.

Ash caught up to us and stood there to catch his breath. We all stood there in silence for a second until that girl realized that she was standing on the opposite side from her friend. She ran to Ash's and then turned and looked at me. She giggled a little with a smile across her face and a little bit of blush on her cheeks. (Yes and we ALL remember this scene too :D)

**~Flashback over~**

* * *

Oh yeah…her. I remember this girl, she was friends with Ash. I forgot her name, I think it started with a D or something along those lines.

"Dawn." She suddenly said.

"My name is Dawn."

I looked at her in a questioning manner at her random declaration.

"Knowing you, I figured you probably forgot it, or didn't even bother to remember it." She casually said as if this was normal for me…which it was.

"Yeah well whatever." I grumbled as I turned my head the other way.

She just laughed, "You're so stupid." she said under her breath.

The ship jolted to a complete stop as it began to dock. We both got up and went our separate ways as we went to get our stuff and our pokemon. I get my bag and put all of my pokemon in their pokeballs. It wasn't a terrible boat ride, but I'm glad that I'm finally in Sinnoh. I get off of the boat and start to walk down the street when I hear someone call my name.

"Hey Paul!"

I turn around and it's that girl again. She runs up to me and takes a second to catch her breath.

"Hey Paul, I just wanted to thank you for letting me hang out with you during the boat ride." She said with gratitude in her voice. "Yeah yeah whatever." I say as I turn around and start walking away.

She catches up and starts walking next to me. "So where are you headed?" she asks.

"I'm going the Pokemon center." ...silence

She doesn't say anything, it was just quiet for a minute or two.

"Let me guess, you're headed there too?" I finally say.

She laughs a little and scratches the back of her head, "Ummm yeah haha. So you won't mind if I just stay with you right?" she says in a sheepish manner.

I don't say anything, I just keep walking.

"Let's be honest Paul, You couldn't care less if I'm with you or not!" She yells as she puts her hands on her waist.

"Just don't get in my way." I reply.

"Exactly!" She picks her Piplup up off of the ground and just walks next to me with an 'I am victorious' look on her face. I just roll my eyes and keep walking.

So far this has been a really crazy day, it's been like one big swirl. Now on my way to the pokemon center, whatever it's just me and some girl.

* * *

**SHAZAM! Chapter 1 run and done! **

**I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes. I read over it a couple times and didn't see anything but you know, the more you read it the harder it becomes to catch the mistakes and stuff.**

**Hope to see many of you for chapter two which I'll probably type up next week. Till then!**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	2. Can I Boa Her?

**Haha get it, Boa her...borrow her...snakes...it was a _stretch_ but I made it work, wasn't it _hiss-terical?_ Haha yes excellent...**

**Hey Sweet peas! Hope everyone had a fun Fourth of July, now I made it even funner by updating.**

**So live it up with chapter two!**

* * *

We walked down the path, on our way to the Pokemon center. That girl didn't talk to me all that much, she pretty much spent most of the time playing with her Piplup. I was so concentrated on paying attention to where we were going that I had failed to notice that the sky had gotten darker. Suddenly a drop of rain fell onto my nose catching my attention. I stopped walking abruptly, which caused her to slam into the back of me.

"Hey!" she complained.

She rubbed her face and then looked at me. "Why'd you suddenly stop?" she asked.

I didn't listen to her, I was too busy trying to figure out if it was rain that I just felt. I looked up at the sky and another drop fell into my eye.

"Ouch" I said as I covered my 'injured' eye with my hand.

Suddenly the rain started to come down harder as it developed into a full on rainstorm. That girl put one of her hands over her head, "oh no not my hair!" she yelled.

'Is that what she's seriously worried about?' I thought to myself.

"We better get out of this rain." I said.

She nodded her head and we started sprinting towards the Pokemon Center.

* * *

We ran through the front door and into the main lobby. We were soaking wet but I was just glad that we were out of the rain. We walked up to the front desk and greeted Nurse Joy.

"I'd like a room please." I said.

That girl was a bit surprised about my statement, " 'I?' Don't you mean 'we'? We need a room?" She asked me.

I looked at her, "Hey, the deal was that we just stay together until we get to the Pokemon center." I harshly replied.

She opened her mouth to say something when Nurse Joy cut in. "Well I'm sorry but there aren't any rooms open at this time. With this storm rolling in, everyone is looking for a place to stay. You are welcome to stay in the lobby with everyone else if you would like."

I turned around and noticed how crowded the room was. I didn't realize it when I first walked in because I was too preoccupied with being…soaking wet and everything. I was a little irritated now, I had to walk through the pouring rain, and now I don't even have a place to sleep. I looked at the girl next to me, she looked disheartened too, too bad there wasn't any rooms left. I look around the room,

'There really isn't anywhere to sit down either' I thought.

She started to walk away; "I guess we better find another place to-" she was suddenly cut off by a boy who jumped right in front of her.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help but overhear your current predicament." He said.

He had white hair and icy blue eyes with a diamond earring in his right ear and a slight French accent. "I don't think I would be able to sleep at night knowing that a beautiful girl like you has no place to rest her head." He dramatically yelled.

"That's why I would be honored to give up my room for you and your…" he looked at me, "boyfriend?" he said while raising his eyebrow.

She looked at me and then quickly shook her head, "Oh, no he's just a friend!" she yelled.

He smirked a little and then continued with his overly dramatic rant. "I will find another place to sleep!" he yelled.

The girl frowned, "But where will you go?" she asked.

"Don't you worry about me my darling, the important thing is that you get a good nights rest." He said.

"Wow! Thank you so much! This is so nice of you…you…" she paused as she didn't really know his name.

"Pierre." He said as he reached down grabbed her hand and kissed it causing her to blush. "My name is Pierre."

He looked straight into her eyes and smiled with a twinkle in his eyes. She opened her mouth to try and say something when he put his finger over her lips.

"Shhhhh, no words, until tomorrow for maybe…lunch?" he said which made her blush even more, she just nodded. "I cannot wait until I can once again see your beauty tomorrow." He wooed.

I just shook my head and chuckled at his pathetic antics. They both stopped and looked at me. "Is there something funny about this ser?" he asked me.

"I just think this whole thing is pathetic." I put my hands in my pockets and turned around to walk away.

"Jealous?" he asked, the question through me off a bit but not enough to stop me. I turned to look at him, "Hn, as if." I just walked away.

"I better go." I hear her say to Pierre. She ran to catch up to me and looked behind her one last time to see Pierre blowing a kiss at her, this of course caused her to blush even more. I just rolled my eyes, but surprisingly turned back around just...because. I look and see Pierre standing there with a smirk stretched all the way across his face. I didn't like that guy; there was something about him. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not jealous or anything, it's just…he looks like a snake. He's up to something sneaky, he's after something, and that's what bothered me about him. But whatever, we got his room so I guess I can't complain...for now.

* * *

We got to the room and opened the door, it was a pretty nice room; two beds, large window, TV, bathroom, even a mini fridge. I threw my stuff onto one of the beds and we both released all of our pokemon. I was second to take my shower, considering the fact that she said SHE deserves to take one first because SHE got us the room in the first place, yeah whatever. The hot water felt nice and everything, but that guy Pierre kept swimming into my mind.

'What is that guy after?' I thought. I sighed, 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid.'

I finished up my shower, got dressed into my pajamas and left the bathroom. That troublesome girl was already asleep, as were most of the other pokemon. I laid down on my bed and turned out the lights. Tomorrow I'll be able to start my journey to Solaceon Town and continue my journey…in blissful solitude.

* * *

I woke up, it was about 8:30 on the morning and the sun was shining SO bright that it was actually hurting my eyes a bit. That troublesome girl was still asleep, in a fairly inglorious manner if I might add. I got up, showered and put my pokemon in their poke balls. I had gone down to check out but Nurse Joy told me that the storm from yesterday was heading in the direction that I wanted to go, and that it would be to my benefit to just wait here for a couple of days. I went back to the room and by now she had already gotten up and gotten ready.

"I'm hungry." She said. "Let's go get breakfast."

I rolled my eyes and we both walked down to the cafeteria. I had already gotten my food and sat down at a table, I just got some toast and a coffee, nothing special. That troublesome girl got herself pancakes and an orange juice when she started walking towards the table I was sitting at. Sadly she had failed to notice that there was a spill of water on the floor and she slipped on it, sending her food and tray flying up into the air. Suddenly someone ran in and caught her into their arms and also caught her tray with all the food still on it. She looked up and blushed, it was Pierre.

I rolled my eyes, 'This guy again.' I thought.

"Not even lunch time yet and you have already gotten yourself into more trouble my darling." he said.

She didn't say anything; she just smiled and looked the other way. He put her back on her feet and handed her her food. "Be a little more careful next time." He said and walked away. Still blushing, she walked over and sat next to me. I took a bite of my toast and looked to my left, only to notice that the same janitor from the boat was working here, no wonder there was no wet floor sign. He happened to look my way and see me, I just shook my head and he understood what I was hinting at because he hung his head in shame. Breakfast was pretty quiet which I wasn't complaining about, it was a nice peaceful silence.

* * *

For the past couple of days, all she does is hang out with Pierre. I'm not jealous or anything, it was just annoying. She said that she would train with me today, but I've been standing here for hours and she never showed, she's probably out with Pierre again. Whatever I'm used to training alone anyway.

After about 2 hours of training I go back to the room; I see she left her pokemon here, whatever, they wouldn't want to be a third wheel anyway. I release all of my pokemon and just sit down and continue to read my book. About 5 minutes later she comes back to the room, and she walks right by me as if she didn't front on me this morning, and she calls me rude.

* * *

It's about sunset now, which excites me a little bit. Tomorrow I'll be able to continue on my journey to Solaceon Town. Me and that troublesome girl are just casually sitting here watching TV when she suddenly starts talking, "I'm sorry for not training with you today Paul." She says.

"Whatever, I don't really care all that much anyway." I respond to her and then continue to watch TV.

She started fidgeting around, "Sooo….where are you headed after this?"

I didn't really feel like answering her question, but after a minute or two I figured there's no point in hiding it. "Well after this I'm going to head towards Solaceon Town, I heard about some weird stuff happening in some ruins there and thought that it would be cool to check it out."

"Oh I've been there!" She yelled.

"Really?"

"Yeah! It's just full of a bunch of Unown that like to confuse people and stuff." She said.

"Oh...well at least it'll be a good place to train."

She just laughed at my statement, "Training really is the only thing on your mind isn't it Paul?"

I didn't answer; I just turned my head, to which she laughed at. "Yeah well what are you going to be doing?" I ask her.

"I'm going to be entering contests so that I can win the Grand Festival and become Top Coordi-" she was suddenly cut off by a knock at the door. She got up and opened it; it was a…butler.

"Master Pierre would like me to deliver you this dress and these shoes and would like you to accompany him to dinner tonight." He said as he handed her a giant box with a big red bow on it.

Her face lit up with joy, "Of course I'd go to dinner with him!" she yelled, I just rolled my eyes. She thanked the butler and then closed the door. She threw the box onto her bed and opened it up.

She pulled out the dress and gasped, "It's beautiful! I better start getting ready!" she shouted as she ran into the bathroom.

"We were in the middle of a conversation but whatever." I mumbled.

* * *

It took her like 2 hours to get ready I don't understand what took her so long. I don't care how fancy the place is; it is not necessary to take that long. I heard a car horn from outside so I looked out of the window and saw a limo waiting out there.

"Your boyfriend's here." I sarcastically said.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she muttered as she struggled to put her heels on.

I looked out of the window again and saw Pierre standing there, he looked at me and smirked.

'I hate you so much' I thought.

I turned around and saw her smashing lip gloss over her lips."Don't go to dinner with him." I said, with all seriousness.

She was a bit thrown off by my words, "What? Why not?"

"Because he's a snake. He's using you."

Her eyes squinted at me and she stopped what she was doing, "What's that supposed to mean? How could he possibly be using me, what would he gain?"

"I don't know, I just…don't trust him." I was serious, I didn't know what he was doing but he was up to something.

For once, she was the one to roll her eyes, "Yeah well I do." she said.

"Well then you are just as stupid as every other loser out there."

"You know what Paul?! I am SO sick of dealing with you and your nasty attitude! I'm glad I meet Pierre, I finally meet someone who understands me."

"You think he cares about you?! Because he doesn't, I can tell you that much. He's going to get whatever he wants from you, and throw you aside like you're nothing!"

"You're a jerk you know that?! Why would I ever take advice from a kid who has NO friends! You could _**NEVER**_ understand!"

That was actually pretty mean, mean by her standards after all.

"Whatever, if you want to go off with some creep, then be my guest! I couldn't care less!"

"I will!" she screamed as she snatched her purse of the table and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I just brushed my hair out of my face and turned around, all of the pokemon were looking at me and shaking their heads, "Shut up."

* * *

It's been about an hour or two since she left, and I really didn't care. I'm leaving tomorrow and I won't have to see her again. While packing things up in my bag I remembered that I needed to grab some traveling items from the store tonight. I put my shoes on and headed out to town. It was petty dark outside but it was relaxing, there was a nice breeze and the streets weren't too crowded or loud. I went to the store and got a couple of items, nothing too big. My trip to the store was nothing too eventful; it was on my way back when things got a little…confrontational. So I was walking down the street when I passed a restaurant; it was across the street from me and it look REALLY fancy: it had a big sign and lights everywhere and a beautiful landscape. That's when I saw Pierre and that troublesome girl. Seeing them isn't what bothered me, it's how he was holding her. He was pulling her out of the restaurant by her arm, and it looked like he had a pretty strong grip on her. He pulled her in front of him and started yelling at her.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He harshly asked her.

She was trembling with fear, "Ta…talking to people." She timidly answered.

"You don't talk, you are only supposed to sit there and look pretty. Do you understand me?! God! Why did I even bring you here? I should have known that you'd be too stupid to keep your mouth shut!" He was actually getting pretty mean over there with the insults, I actually felt kind of bad for her.

Pierre rubbed the bridge his nose and sighed, "Whatever let's just get back in there before people start asking questions." He grabbed her arm and tried pulling her but she pulled away from him.

"I…I don't want to go with you Pierre." She nervously said.

"What?" Pierre growled. "What do you mean you don't want to go with me?"

"You're not the guy I thought you were. I...I don't even know why you brought me here."

Pierre chuckled a little and then took a step towards her, "You haven't figured it out? I brought you here to show off to my friends. The only thing you are good for is being a prize to show off to the public. My friends bet me that I couldn't get a prettier girl then them, man were they wrong. Guess I won this round.

She didn't say anything, she just looked away.

Pierre just laughed at her, "You didn't think that I actually liked you did you? HA! Who on Earth would possibly have feelings for a stupid, annoying, ditsy blunette as yourself. HAHA! That's rich! You thought that I actually cared about you!" Pierre just kept laughing at her.

Tears started running down her cheeks, "Paul was right, I shouldn't have trusted you." She whimpered.

"That loser? I wouldn't have listened to him either." Pierre joked.

That troublesome girl took a step away from him, "Don't talk about him like!" she yelled.

Pierre didn't even bother to listen to anything she said, "Alright baby, let's get back inside before my friends get suspicious." He grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her into the restaurant but she pulled away.

"I'm not going anywhere you Pierre, I'm leaving!" she said as more tears ran down her cheeks.

Suddenly Pierre's demeanor changed, "You aren't going anywhere, you belong to me! Do you hear me?! You are **mine**, and you will do what I say and I say that we go back inside you useless dumb annoying wench!"

I figured that he had basically crossed the line with name-calling and insults, he really took it too far and I figured that it was time to intervene. Pierre made a move to grab her again so I just pushed myself in-between the two of them, with her being behind me. I didn't say anything, I just glared at him. He thought about whether he should challenge me or not, but he probably decided against it.

"This isn't over Dawn!" he yelled before storming back into the restaurant.

I turned around and looked at her, she was still shivering like crazy, and I could tell she was trying not to cry, but she really didn't do a good job at it considering the fact that not two seconds later she broke down in tears. I figured that this wasn't the best time for 'I told you so.' She fell to her knees and cried and cried and cried.

'God she's making a scene and everything' I thought.

She's obviously not going to stop crying anytime soon, and if I try to take her back to the pokemon center then everyone is going to be like 'Oh my God what happened?' and last thing I need is people in my face. I figured the best thing to do was to take us somewhere secluded. At least until she calms down.

* * *

I brought us to this waterfall deep in the forest, I had come here a couple times in the past and thought that it would be a good place for her to calm down. I just sat there with my back up against a nearby tree and relaxed while trying to tune out her crying. Oh, did I mention that she cried the whole way here? I understand that Pierre broke her heart, but how can she be THIS heartbroken, I mean…I DID warn her before she insulted me and ran out of the room. She should have seen this coming, but I guess the situation couldn't be helped.

"I'm sorry Paul." She suddenly said. "I'm sorry that I said all of that stuff to you and I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you and I'm sorry that I've caused you all of this trouble!" She whined.

I personally didn't care all that much, it was her fault for not listening to me; after all I DO know what I'm talking about. She started to stop crying and was now just sniffling. She looked out at the water, probably now realizing where we were, "-sniff- it's so pretty here." She said.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah I know, I was the one who brought us here." I harshly replied.

She laughed a little at my apathy and sat closer to where I was. "Hey Paul?" I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks for what you did back there, Pierre probably would have struck me down if you had not interfered."

I just sighed, "Yeah well he was getting out of hand. Besides, I don't think it's that big of a deal anyway."

She smiled, "But still, it was really nice of you. Look, I know I said that you're a jerk, but I don't really think that...ok I do. But I think that you can be really kind when you want to be."

I sighed, "Hey, don't go around telling people that. The last thing I need is people asking me for help, got it?"

She nodded her head and laughed, "Yeah I got it."

We both looked out at the water, it really was nice here that's why I used to come to this waterfall. The wind was so relaxing and the sound of the waterfall was so calming and it was late at night and I was kind of tired, but just a little bit, not enough to…

* * *

I moved around a bit because I was really uncomfortable. Why does my back hurt? I opened my eyes and realized that I had fallen asleep leaning up against the tree. I went to move and felt something against my arm. Oh, that troublesome girl fell asleep too. I rubbed my eyes, it was still dark outside, I looked at my watch, 2:45am. Wow, its pretty late, I better get us back to the Pokemon center. I picked her up and carried her on my back. No use in waking her up, she'll just end up talking to me.

The Pokemon center wasn't too far from where we were, so it only took me like 10 minutes to get there. I walked through the front lobby, down the hallway, up the elevator, and into our room, closing the door behind me with my foot. The pokemon were all asleep but woke instantly at the sound of me walking in. Her pokemon gave me a look of worry but I assured them that she was fine. I put her into her bed and then shuffled over to mine. As soon as I was down, I was out.

* * *

I woke up to the sunlight piercing through my eyelids. I rolled over and saw that she was missing from her bed. She's never awake before me; I checked the clock and saw that it was 10:18am. I jumped out of bed; 'I never sleep in this late!' I think to myself. She comes out of the bathroom all dressed and what not, which I didn't care about, so I just pushed her out of my way and went to take a shower.

We were both dressed and had both packed our bags and both put our pokemon in their poke balls. We both walked out of the room and both checked out and both walked out of the Pokemon Center. We stood there for a second.

She turned to me and smiled, "So I guess this is good bye Paul." She said.

"Yeah I guess it is."

There was this awkward silence for a second and then we waved good-bye to each other and went our separate ways. I turned to the left and started walking down some street. I want to leave through the North entrance so I continued to walk forward. As soon as I could see the North entrance, I noticed that the street that I was on connected to another street…of which that troublesome girl was walking down. I thought that it might just be a coincidence so I kept walking towards the exit. Finally I got to it and noticed that she was still there. I looked at her, she looked at me, I looked at her, she looked at me, I looked at her, she looked at me. She opened her mouth to say something but I just cut her off.

"You're heading the same way as me." I said, completely guessing what she was going to say.

She laughed and scratched the back of her head, "Haha yeah I actually have a contest in Solaceon town so…you know."

I rolled my eyes; we are probably going to end up just going there together. She opened her mouth to say something when I cut her off again.

"You want to know if we can just go together." I said, once again guessing her choice in words.

She laughed and looked at me, "You know me so well." She giggled.

"No, you're just predictable."

"Soooo…is that a yes?" she asked.

I thought about it for a second, it would make no sense to separate and then just run into each other again in Solaceon City, and besides I really couldn't just leave her alone with Pierre still running around.

I sighed, "Whatever." I said and turned to walk away.

"Thanks Paul!" she yelled as she ran to catch up with me.

These last couple of days have been so exhausting, who knew that having another person around would be SO tiresome. She can't go 2 hours without getting herself into trouble. This was just another week of twists and twirls. But I guess it's whatever, it's just me and this troublesome girl.

* * *

**SLAMMA JAM! She shots! And she scores!**

** I liked it, how about you?**

**This chapter was fairly long, well at least I think so, but whatever I hope you liked it.**

**Will definitely update some time next week, counting on seeing you then.**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	3. I Can't Sand Him!

**Haha, get it? Sand him...Stand him...beaches? Forget you!**

**I know I know I Know! I was supposed to update last week and it's this week. I started a new job and had college orientation and my one computer has blue screen. Damn you Microsoft! But it's ok, it's ok...I'm still here.**

**So you know, here's the next chapter, and I hope you know that I didn't use the thesaurus AT ALL while writing this entire chapter. I went free bird, run away boat, I went wild flower, scattered showers.**

**So... Enjoy chapter 3!**

* * *

So it's been a couple of weeks since we started traveling together. I know that we were only supposed to go to Solaceon Town together, but things didn't really turn out that way. We got there, separated, then ran into each other again and had lunch, then dinner, then breakfast the next morning. By the time she finished her contest thing, which she won by the way, she told me that she would show me around those ruins that I wanted to check out. I guess it was kind of cool, I got a lot of training done while in there, so that's a positive. Plus the Unown that live there played a lot of tricks on us. I was here, she was there, she was on the ceiling, I was on the floor. It was really…interesting. After we finished that, we spent the next couple hours talking about it, next thing I knew we were at the next town over. After that we just stayed together. I don't know why, she didn't say anything about it and I guess I felt no point in objecting to her presence. It just sort of…happened. But whatever, I couldn't care less if she was here or not. BUTTTTT! I will admit that while we were at this one town a couple of days back, she made these triple chocolate, chocolate chip cookies that were just…so…so…there's no words to describe how good they were. But of course I didn't tell her how much I liked them, you never know, she could use something like that to blackmail me or use me or something along those lines, not on my watch. But seriously, they were good.

Right now we are on our way to Majolica Town. Ultimately I'm on my way to Snowpoint City so I can rechallenge Brandon, but it's going to take awhile so it's best to take breaks in between, besides it gives me time to train. I want to train as much as I can; I refuse to lose to him again. That troublesome girl says that she has a contest here anyway, so kill two birds with one stone right?

We walk into town and are immediately greeted by a friend of hers.

"Hey Dee Dee!" The red haired boy yelled.

She groaned, "Stop calling me that Kenny."

He completely ignored her statement and looked at me. "I feel like I've met you before." He said.

"Doubt it." I grumbled.

He looked back at that troublesome girl, "So Dee Dee, what are you doing here in Majolica Town?"

"Isn't it obvious, to win the contest." She said with confidence in her voice.

Kenny laughed at that, "Well good luck with that because I plan on winning it too." He replied.

She playfully shoved him and smiled, "Don't plan on it."

He giggled, "Oh? You wanna make a bet?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Fine. If I win I want…hmmmm…your shoes."

"Why do you want me shoes?" He asked, even I wanted to know, it was such an odd request.

"You know how valuable shoes are? Besides, I want them because I know that you really like them, so it'll be like a prize for me." She said as she smiled.

"Fine, but if I win the contest, then you have to travel with me and not this jerk." He said while pointing at me.

Wow, I see how it is. I wasn't even a part of this conversation and he dragged me in and threw me right under the bus. We've never even met before, or at least I don't think we have and he already assumed that I was a jerk. Hn, he's the jerk.

"This again Kenny? Why do you want me to travel with you so bad?" she said as she turned facing the opposite way from him.

I looked at him, he was blushing. Oooooooohhhhh I see. He has a crush on her. But of course he's not going to tell her that's why he wants her to go with him. And just like I predicted, he came up with some random reason.

"Ummmm because…because I think that you could really use some help training because I say your last battle and you looked kind of sloppy." He shrugged at the end of his statement, hoping that she would buy it.

Instead she got offended, "What's that supposed to mean?!" She yelled as she put her hands on her waist.

He cringed back and put his hands in front of himself as a means of defense. "No wait, I didn't mean that, I meant…I meant…I meant."

Come on man, you're running out of time, the clock is ticking down and oh no it's too late.

"I don't need your help Kenny, I'm doing just fine on my own! And tomorrow I'm going to destroy you and take you're oh so precious shoes!" She yelled as she walked off. He looked at me; I just shook my head in the, 'You messed up really bad man' way and walked to catch up with her.

* * *

The entire time to the Pokemon center she just ranted on about how mad she was.

"Who does he think he is?! Calling my battling sloppy. It wasn't sloppy was it Paul?" she asked.

I just shrugged; honestly I wasn't really paying attention during her last contest. This guy was sitting next to me and he kept talking on and on and on. So I told him to shut up and he said no then I called him an annoying loser, and then he called ME a loser. Me out of all people, at that point, things quickly turned into an altercation and he grabbed my jacket and I shoved him and then security had to get involved so…you know, I missed basically the entire contest. So I don't really know how she did, all I know is that she won. But I don't know why it matters what he says; I don't even understand what he sees in her so obviously his judgment is crooked. But she was mad so she just kept going on and on. I obviously tuned her out but still.

She spent the entire night training; I did train with her a bit, but then I took advantage of her being occupied and used the silence in the room to read more of my book. I just left my pokemon down with her, that way they could get training and I didn't actually have to do anything. Two birds with one stone again.

* * *

I woke up at about 9 in the morning, I looked over and she was sprawled out across her bed, she was still in her clothes, she must have literally trained all night. I casually got up, I casually took a shower, I casually got dressed and fixed my hair. I casually walked out of the bathroom, grabbed my book and sat in a chair…

"You're going to be late for your contest." I said.

Her eyes shot open and she jumped out of her bed, "Oh my God, why didn't you wake me up earlier Paul?!" She yelled as she grabbed a dress out of her bag and ran into the bathroom. I guess that was kind of amusing, especially the part where she almost tripped over her Piplup trying to get to her bag. I guess it's been a good morning so far.

* * *

"Paul hurry up! We're going to be late! I'm NOT going to lose to Kenny!" she yelled as she pulled me down the street.

We weren't actually all that late so I don't know why she was in such a rush.

"Why do I have to go again?" I ask.

"Because you know? I don't know, you just have to."

"That was an unsatisfying answer." I tell her, but of course she ignores me. We get to the contest hall and she lets go of me and runs off somewhere else. I roll my eyes, whatever.

* * *

I stand outside, leaning against a tree as my hair blows in the wind. Here she comes, that troublesome girl strutting her new sneakers.

"Who's sloppy now?!" She yells with a huge smile stretched across her face.

She was REALLY proud of herself; I really didn't care who won the bet. If he won, she'd at least be out of my way, but if she won, then she'd stay with me and there'd be a chance that she would make those cookies again. Whatever, it doesn't matter, she won so I'm stuck with her either way. She walked up to me and modeled her new shoes.

"Like my new shoes Paul?" she asked, smiling as big as she can.

I just shook my head in a 'you know that I don't care at all' way, and she laughed in a 'I know, but it's still fun asking' sort of way. I sighed, "I'm just glad it's done and over with, tomorrow morning we'll pack up and start heading for the next town."

* * *

I really didn't do much the next couple of hours, that troublesome girl went out somewhere with friends, something about lunch, I didn't care. I trained for a while back at the Pokemon Center, and then started reading more of my book. It wasn't until the late afternoon when she came running through the door. She grabbed some clothes and then ran into the bathroom. About 15 minutes later she came out; she was wearing shorts and a tank top and her hair was put up in a ponytail. She started walking towards the room door when she stopped and looked at me. She walked over to me and stood in front of me.

"Hey Paul?" she said.

I finished reading my paragraph, bookmarked where I left off and looked at her.

"What?" I sternly asked.

"You know, there's a festival going on down at the beach, I didn't know if you wanted to come. It's supposed to be really fun."

I rolled my eyes, "Why on Earth would I want to go to that?" I harshly asked.

She sighed angrily, "Come on Paul, all you do is train and read all day long. Have some fun; once we get to the next town, all you're going to do is train non-stop until you fight Brandon. So just have one final night of relaxation."

How'd she know that I was going to train non-stop, does she know me that well? She does seem like the type of person who would know that kind of stuff about people she knows.

"Paul Pleaseeeeee?" she said as she had big puppy dog eyes on her face, "I don't want to go alone." She whimpered.

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, if it'll shut you up." I grumbled.

"Yay!" she yelled as she grabbed the arm of my jacket and pulled me out of the room and down the street. Why does it matter if I go with her? She could have just gone with that Kenny kid, we all know he would have loved it. Man is she troublesome.

* * *

We got to the festival and it was really crowded. There were a lot of lights and stands and things to do. I can't believe I let her talk me into coming here. But I guess there's nothing I can do about it now, so let's just get straight into what we did...

* * *

We were walking down the street when she saw a face-painting stand.

"Let's get our faces painted!" she yelled.

"No-" I didn't even get time to object before she pulled me into the booth.

She got a bright pink heart on her right cheek and I got a light blue star on left. I don't agree with this if I might add.

* * *

As we got closer to the beach, we saw a volleyball net.

"Let's play volleyball!" she yelled.

"No-" Once again, I had no say, but I guess in this situation I didn't mind too much, I was actually pretty decent at the game. So I took off my shoes and such, rolled up the bottom of my jeans and the sleeves of my jacket. It was me and her on one team, and two guys on the other team.

"Haha, you guys think you can handle us?" One of the guys asked in a good sportsmanship way.

"Totally! Hope you can handle this dream team over here!" She replied.

Even though the game started as a friendly competition, that troublesome girl became WAY to competitive. I was standing on the court all right, but she was basically playing a team of one. I felt bad for the guys on the other team; she would hit unnecessarily hard spikes, she dove for balls in situations that didn't call for it and she basically got all of our points by herself, I don't even know why I'm here. On our game point, she hit the ball so hard that the net caught on fire and the ball created a crater in the sand. The crowd was beyond taken back, oh, did I mention that a gambling ring formed around our match. People were actually betting money that she would win, which she did. With the final point made, we won the game, people were cheering, the other team was confused, someone handed her a trophy that I don't even understand where it came from.

Seriously, does she always have to make a scene everywhere she goes?

* * *

It was about sunset now, but apparently the festival was supposed to continue on well into the night hours. Just great, I know that this troublesome girl is going to keep me here the entire time.

Next we entered a sandcastle-building contest. Ok, so I'm actually really good at this, she actually let me help her this time. I'll admit that I did get a little too competitive along with her. There were these two kids next to us who were SO sure that they could beat us by a landslide. I couldn't just sit there and take that, I HAD to prove those brats wrong. We built this really big, super detailed castle that had a mote and a drawbridge and windows and people and even had a dragonite at the top. You can bet we won first place.

* * *

Somehow I got suckered into getting into those spinning teacup ride things. We sat down opposite sides from each other, well…that's how it started. The ride started out slow at first. She was laughing and saying how much fun she was having, and I just sat there with my arms crossed. Then the ride started getting faster, so we were both slipping back and forth a little bit. Then it got faster and faster and faster, to the point that we were sliding around the entire teacup. We kept slamming into each other and elbowing each other and I think at one point she kicked me and I'm pretty sure I accidentally punched her in the ribs.

The ride was finally over and we both walked away with several bruises. She looked at me and smiled, "It was still kind of fun, it just…hurt at the same time…a lot."

* * *

We had gotten hungry, so we grabbed some hot dogs and sat on some near by bench. I took one bite of my hot dog, and some ketchup dropped onto my jacket. I looked at it, and then looked at her. She was trying to fight back a laugh, I could tell because she wasn't doing a great job at it.

"Shut up"

* * *

I don't know HOW she got the ketchup out of my jacket, but she did. Just thought I'd put that out there, now on another note, we were walking down the pathway when we happened to pass one of those dunk tank things.

"Hey thunder thighs!" yelled the man sitting over the tank.

That troublesome girl stopped dead in her tracks and cringed her head in the direction he was facing.

"What did you call me?" She scratched out from between her teeth.

"You heard me, how about you walk those thick legs over here and try to hit the target with your chunky arms!" Man, he was really poking the bear with a stick. "Maybe if you're lucky, you can hit the target and knock me into this water. But just by looking at you and your unfashionable outfit, I can tell that you probably suck as bad as your little boyfriend over there." He said.

Boyfriend? Was he talking about me? I know what he's trying to do, he's trying to purposely make us mad so that we'll buy balls and try to knock him down. Well I've already figured it out and honestly, I didn't care. But if he's trying to get us mad then he's doing a good job at getting her mad. I turned and looked at that troublesome girl, and she was almost literally on fire with rage. I shook my head; he already got her sucked in. She ran over to the booth's table and slammed money on the counter.

"5 balls if you don't mind!" she yelled at the clerk.

He cautiously handed her the balls and she snatched them out of his hand. Without even a hint of common sense, she started aimlessly throwing the balls at the target, missing every time. She just kept slamming more money on the counter, getting more balls and trying again. This was actually getting pretty sad, she was far to angry to have even the slightest bit of accuracy. She was down to her last ball when I walked over and grabbed her arm. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow, then she understood what I was getting at, so she handed me the ball.

"Oh, so is your little boyfriend's going to give it a try now, I bet you can't even do it little man!" the man yelled.

I sighed, "I'm not her boyfriend." I said as I threw the ball, hitting the target directly and ultimately dropping him into the water. He pushed his head above the water and stood on his feet, "COLD! The water is so cold!" he yelled.

Me and her both watched in amusement as he continued to complain about the water. The clerk handed that troublesome girl a giant stuffed Teddiursa, it was probably from us winning. As we walked away, we could still here that guy yelling, we just snickered.

* * *

We rode a couple of rollercoasters, we drove on the go carts, we even got on this one ride that was like a rollercoaster, except at the end it sprayed you with water. She said that I looked like a funny monster when my hair is wet, apparently you can't see my eyes so in her mind that translates to a monster. Sometimes its best to just not ask question.

* * *

At this very moment, we were riding a Ferris wheel, and it wasn't the ones that you just sit in, it was one of the ones that had like, full on chamber things that you can walk around in while on the ride. Of course there's not a lot of walking room because it's mainly just seating, I guess you could fit like 4 or 5 people in here. The windows were open, so the breeze was flowing right in. I just sat on a seat and enjoyed the view as we reached the top of the Ferris wheel. That troublesome girl stood at the window and gleamed out of it.

"It's so nice up here Paul." She said.

I nodded my head, "It really is, it's so calm and still, it's very relaxing."

"I'm glad." She said.

I was a little confused by her statement, "Glad about what?"

"That you're feeling relaxed. You have been training so much lately that I thought that it would be really good for you to take a break. And by break I don't mean sitting in a silent room alone reading a book. You have some time before your battle with Brandon comes, so don't stress your self out."

I rolled my eyes, "I don't need your sympathy, I have full confidence that I will defeat him, and I don't need you worrying about me." I harshly said.

She just smiled and shook her head, "Same as always." She mumbled under her breath.

In all honesty, I was in fact a little worried about my battle, I mean, what if I lose? What do I do then, just try again? I looked back at her; She was leaning out of the window, still wondering at the scenery. The wind blew her hair and the light lit up her smile.

'Why does she care anyway?' I thought to myself.

* * *

After getting off of the Ferris wheel, we grabbed some cotton candy and sat on an edge, right where the street ends and the sand starts. We only saw the point in grabbing one cotton candy seeing as I wasn't going to eat a full one and neither was she, so we figured we would just share one, no big deal. I guess a fireworks show was supposed to be starting soon, this festival has everything, am I right or am I right? We sat there, both ripping pieces off of the cotton candy and eating it. The show began and the fireworks started shooting into the sky. They were big and bright and beautiful. Each one lit up the night sky and was followed by a collective "OOOO!" from the crowd that watched. We didn't really talk all that much during the fireworks show, we just sort of watched. After about 20 minutes, that troublesome girl laid her head on my shoulder.

"I'm had a lot of fun today Paul, I'm glad that you decided to come. Thanks for coming with me." she slowly whispered out, she was falling asleep I could tell.

"Yeah whatever." I replied.

She laughed a little and closed her eyes, "Same as always." She said.

I looked down at her…I think she's asleep. I snap my fingers a couple of times and nothing. She is really knocked out, aw man that means that I'm going to have to carry her back to the Pokemon Center.

Well, I could leave her here…I better not.

* * *

Walking down the street, carrying that troublesome girl on my back, carrying her stuffed pokemon in my arm along with her random volleyball trophy and our sandcastle trophy. What is this? How do I keep getting into these situations? It's probably because she's with me; after all she IS the one who forced me to come to this festival anyway. But I will admit that I had a lot of fun. I didn't think I'd have as good of a time as I did. So I guess it's only fair that I carry her back. While walking down the street, I happened to look between two buildings and see our pokemon walking back to the pokemon center on another street.

'They were at the festival?' I thought. 'Now that I think about it, I do recall seeing them there...I think.' I rub my eyes. 'I'm tired, I can't think straight. Whatever, it doesn't matter, as long as my pokemon are ready to start intense training from here on out until we defeat Brandon. I will NOT lose again.'

I sigh and look back at the sleeping girl on my back. I am kind of glad that I went to the festival. If it wasn't for this troubleso-Dawn, if it wasn't for Dawn then I would never have gone, I would have still been in the room reading my book. I COULD thank her…or I could NOT. So I guess I'll go for the latter. It's going to take me another 10 to 15 minutes before I can get us back to the Pokemon center. I guess in this situation I can't use my brain; I have to use my brawn. But I guess it's just whatever it's just me here and Dawn.

* * *

**Free Bird, Run away boat that!**

**Wild Flower, Scattered showers that!**

**See how I rocked that! I hope I did!**

**So for all you die hard fans, yes he is actually calling her by her name now! Took long enough right?! Well Paul is a stubborn person so you know. Besides, just calling her by her name is NOTHING, just you wait and see how much more this whole thing develops!**

**I'm going to really TRY and update next week, so I SHOULD see you guys then...I hope.**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	4. Pack our Trunks and Leaves

**Haha get it? Our trunk and leaves? As in leaving...going somewhere...forests? Whatever!**

**Guess who got a new hard drive for her computer? This bitch! No More blue screen of death! So now I can update on time!**

**So here's the next chapter, I don't really have much to day cause I was up all night installing and setting up the hard drive so I'm super tired. I woke up and started typing this chapter so I hope you guys appreciate it. **

**Oh and by the way I L.O.V.E. love love LOVE you guy's reviews, it really keeps me going. It really does, it reminds me that I can't slack off and not type up new chapters. So here you go!**

**-Relish in chapter 4!**

* * *

Dawn says that there is a difference between being mean and being honest, and apparently I'm just being mean. I don't think it's being mean, if someone's a loser, then I should have the right to tell them so, after all that IS being honest. She says that by being my kind of 'honest' it causes a lot of fights and that's why we keep getting slowed down. As if I believe that, she's the one slowing us down. We were supposed to be at the next town over 3 days ago. But this girl keeps getting sidetracked by site seeing and talking to friends. You see what I mean now? Her friends keep slowing us down; good thing I don't have any, that would make matters SO much worse. Friends are useless, but whatever. So you might want to know that it has been about 2 weeks since we attended that fair back in Majolica Town. We have passed a couple of small towns here and there but right now we are in Sandgem Town, on our way to Jubilife City. We are getting closer and closer to Snowpoint City everyday, and I have to do everything I can to prepare myself for my battle with Brandon. Can you not yet tell how important this is to me?

It's about midday and Dawn and I are sitting at some café eating lunch.

"I can't believe I lost that last contest!" she yelled in anger while she angrily tore at her sandwich. "My style was flawless so how did I lose?!"

"Because you didn't defeat your opponent." I casually threw in.

"Well I'm just going to have to train harder so that when I enter the next contest in Jubilife City, I'll definitely defeat all of my opponents and win that ribbon!" she yelled in confidence as she stood on the table with her Piplup agreeing with her

. "Don't encourage her." I said to her Piplup.

She stopped her scene of confidence and looked down at me. "You're going to train with me right Paul?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah I guess, whatever."

She smiled even brighter then before and burst out into a huge laugh, "My competition will have no chance HAHAHA!"

I sighed and shook my head, 'Why must she insist on making a scene.'

* * *

After lunch we went back to the Pokemon Center and trained for a while. She played through her planned routines and practices her first round moves. I will admit that she is pretty good at what she does. Pokémon strength wise, she is nowhere as close to me but I can't really compare us two because she's a coordinator and I'm a trainer. We train for different purposes: she trains to make her pokémon look pretty and I train to make my pokémon strong. Two completely different sides of the spectrum, so I can't really compare her to me. But for what it's worth, she's a good coordinator in my opinion. Now enough of that, after training we went back into the pokémon center and ate some dinner.

After we finished eating, we started heading back for our room when Nurse Joy came up to us.

"Paul, your brother Reggie is on the phone." She said in a very polite tone of voice.

"Thank you, I will go talk to him right now." I said as I walked over to the videophone and pushed a button that answered the call. Reggie's face popped up on the screen and like usual he was smiling.

"Hey Reggie." I nonchalantly said.

"Hey Paul and hey…Dawn?" You could see the semi-confused look on his face.

"Hi Reggie!" Dawn sung as she waved her hand.

Reggie scratched the back of his head, "I didn't know you two were traveling together."

Oh yeah, I forgot that Reggie didn't know, and I also forgot that it was out of the ordinary for me to have someone with me. I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know if you would call it traveling together, we just happen to be going the same way."

Reggie still was a bit confused about the whole situation, "How long have you two been 'going the same way'?"

Dawn and I looked at each other, then looked away, then looked at the ceiling then looked at the floor, and then shrugged, "I don't know." We both said simultaneously. A drop of sweat just rolled down Reggie's face in a comical fashion.

"Well I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten time to talk to you Paul, so it's been a while." He said.

I nodded my head, "I know, but you've been busy with work."

"Yeah, but things should be lightening up soon so I'll be able to catch up with what's going on. So where are you guys headed now?" Reggie asked.

"Jubilife City." I said.

"I have a contest there." Dawn threw in.

"And it's on my way to Snowpoint." I finished.

Reggie snickered to himself and whispered something under his breath, something about denial and making sentences together, I have no idea what he means but sometimes Reggie can be weird that way. "Well I'll talk to you when you get to Jubilife City, I have to tell you something Paul but I don't have time to tell you right now because I think that I just heard the pokémon break something in the other room." Reggie said.

I nodded, "Alright, we are leaving tomorrow morning so we should be there by the end of the day.

" "Ok then, see you guys then. Bye." He replied as the screen turned black.

Dawn stretched her arms out and yawned, "I'm tired; we are going to need all the rest we can get if we are going to get to the next city by the end of tomorrow."

I don't know why she said that, as if I didn't already know. "Yeah I know." I harshly said.

She raised both of her eyebrows and smirked, "Looks like someone's cranky Mr. Sleepy Meany Puss." She said as she pinched my cheek and shook my head back and forth. I slapped her hand away, "Stop tha-what are you doing?" I questioned.

She shrugged, "I don't know."

I just shook my head and walked away, "Sometimes I just can't handle you."

* * *

So the rest of the night was pretty uneventful; TV, sleeping, munching, nothing special. So the next morning rolled around and like normal we just got ready, put our pokémon in their balls, ate breakfast and set off for the next town. We walked out of the town and down the path that leads to the next city. We got to a fork in the rode and that is where we now stood; there was the left path, there was the right path, and then there was a dirt path right between the left and right path that lead straight into the forest. I wasted no time in heading towards the right path when Dawn stopped me.

"Hey Paul where are you going?" she said as she stood at the dirt path.

"I'm going to Jubilife City, where are you going?"

"That's not what I meant, I meant why are you taking that path?"

"Because it'll get us to where we need to go." I harshly replied.

"But this way is faster." She argued.

"I don't believe that."

She puffed out her cheeks, "Why don't you ever let me guide us to our destination?"

"Because you would only get us lost, besides I ALWAYS know where I'm going."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah ok, keep believing that. It's just your arrogance talking. I could get us there twice as fast and with half the effort." She said with confidence.

I turned around, looked at her and raise an eyebrow, "Really now? I'm actually open to that. Open to the idea that you have a better sense of direction then me." I sarcastically replied.

"You wanna bet?" she challenged. "If I get us there before sunset, then I get…hmmm"

She stood there thinking when I cut in, "Let me guess, my shoes?"

She tapped her finger on her bottom lip and then looked at me, "No, not just your shoes, I want your jacket too!" she yelled.

I smirked, "Fine, but if you get us lost or it takes too long to get there, then you have to stopped traveling with me."

Dawn nodded her head, "Sounds fair, so it's set." She bowed down and stuck her arm out facing the forest, "After you." She snickered.

I did the same thing and smirked, "No please, after you, after all you ARE our guide."

This was the beginning of a journey that I should have seen coming but was too distracted to do so. Oh well, let's see how this goes.

* * *

I had my hands in my pockets while I followed Dawn down the dirt road. I will admit that it was weird following someone, but I'm confident that I will definitely win this bet. Which really shouldn't be a good thing because if I win then that means that we are either lost or it took forever, which basically means that I lose either way. But it's the principle that matters, I'm better at getting from place to place faster, I did it all the time and I'll be able to do it again when she's gone. So at first, it actually seemed like she was doing pretty well, we were on a designated path going in a specific direction. She walked with her hands on her hips and a bright look of over confidence on her face with her Piplup walking besides her mimicking her posture. She actually looked like she knew where she was going, she might be right for once. If she knows where she's going, then I have no need to pay extra attention to our surroundings, I can figure out how I'm going to defeat Brandon.

* * *

So it didn't take long for me to get lost in my thoughts and lose track of where we were going. 'So if I start with Electivire…' I look up and notice that we are no longer on an actual path.

"Uhhh, Dawn?" I look at her and realize that she is frantically looking between a map and a compass.

"I know where I am!" she yelled.

Where were we? The forest was thick and there was this dense fog floating around and the grass was tall. I thought for a second and then smirked, if we're lost then that means that I won the bet.

"Hey Dawn, I wi-" I looked over and realized that she was gone. I blinked a couple of times and then looked around for her.

"Dawn?"

Everything now looked so ominous and dark and creepy. I walked forward, though it felt like I wasn't actually going anywhere. I saw a light in the distance and followed it. Soon I found myself in the Battle Pyramid.

'Brandon' walked up to me, "Congratulations on winning the battle Pyramid Paul!"

"What?" I was so confused, suddenly I felt a pain in my cheek and I fell on the ground. I looked up and I was back in the forest. I see a Stantler running off. 'Oh it must have caught me in its confusion' I thought. I look around, still no sign of Dawn, but standing right next to me is her Piplup. Oh yeah, he must have punched me in the face to wake me up.

"Where's Dawn?" I ask him.

He shrugs his shoulders, "Great, you don't know either, well we better go find her before she gets into trouble." I stand up and dust myself off, "Alright let's go."

* * *

We walk through the forest for a while until we came upon the scene we were looking for. Dawn standing there surrounded by Stantler. She had her arm extended out and a large smile stretched across her face.

"Oh course I'll marry you Eric." She dreamily said.

'Eric? Who's Eric? I don't remember meeting an Eric, whatever it doesn't matter.' I look down at Piplup, "You better wake her up." I say. He nods his head and uses whirlpool to scare off the Stantler and snap Dawn out of it. She blinks a couple times and then turns to us, "What am I doing here?" she asks. "You were caught in a stantler's confusion, now if you are done fooling around, we really should get going. That is if you know where to go." I say with a smirk. She puffs out her cheeks and puts her hands on her hips, "Of course I know where we are! Weeeeee…have to go that way!" she said as she pointed in a random direction.

* * *

So you've heard this enough but we were walking through the forest. The day was going by and I am so sure that she is lost, but she won't admit it. Now let me put this out there, I am not a clumsy person, but every now and then nature catches me off guard. And it just so happens that I didn't see the vine hidden in the grass. I tripped over it and fell into a nearby bush. Dawn ran over to me, "Paul are you ok?" I stood up and dusted myself off, "Yeah I'm fine, the bush broke my fall." I continued to dust myself off when I noticed that she was staring at the bush. "What?" I ask her. She points at the bush, "Is that poison ivy?"

* * *

Its late afternoon and we are still in the forest if you haven't noticed, but the difference is that this time it is raining. She put her Piplup in its pokeball like 10 minutes ago, something about not wanting him to get sick. We were dripping in rain water; this is the worst, why did I ever agree to this. Oh, did I mention that I also have poison ivy rashes on my hands, one on my cheek and a couple on my legs. Yeah, that happened. We didn't talk to each other, and we didn't look at each other. We just walked. Suddenly Dawn stopped and pointed forward.

"Hey! I think I see a path!"

Without even waiting for me, she broke out into a full on sprint in that direction.

I ran to catch up with her, "Dawn wait!"

She ran and ran and ran and suddenly came to a screeching stop. It turns out that it wasn't actually a path but a cliff. She just barely missed slipping down the slope, but unfortunately I didn't. I slipped in the mud and slammed right into the back of her, sending the both of us sliding down the cliff. We both screamed as we plummeted down into a dark pit.

* * *

Dawn and I both sat there in the pit, not talking, not moving, just lying there. We were both not only soaked in rain water, but now in mud too.

"I'm cold." She suddenly voiced.

"Well I'm hungry, but we all can't have what we want now can we?" I harshly replied.

It got quiet again. "This is your fault." She said.

"How is this my fault?!" I yelled.

"You were the one that pushed us down the hill.

" "Well you were the one that got us lost!"

"I'm not lost!"

"Oh yeah! Then where are we?!"

It got really quiet again. "…I'm cold."

* * *

Yes, we are still in the pit, its dark by now and it just seemed more reasonable to just sleep here. The trees that are over this pit protect us from the rain and it would make no sense to just go back out into the storm. I will admit that it is pretty chilly in here, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I was leaning up against a cave wall and she was lying on the ground. It was actually kind of peaceful, a quiet pit with only the sound of raindrops hitting the forest floor. It was nice, especially considering the situation we were in and minus my poison ivy rash. I fell asleep in all this tranquility and rested smoothly for a couple hours until I was brutally awoken by the sound of Dawn screaming. My eyes shot open and looked at her. She had sat up and had her hands on her face and was breathing roughly.

"What?! What happened?!" I frantically asked.

"Oh my god Paul! I had this dream where you were in a coma and something about falling rocks and a useless doctor who was unnecessarily overly concerned with his nachos and AND-"

I crawled over to her and tried to console her so that I could just go back to sleep, "Calm down, it was just a nightmare. As if I would ever be in a coma, that's ridiculous."

She started to calm down, "Yeah…yeah you're right, that is ridiculous." She said as she laughed nervously.

I rolled my eyes, 'Me? In a coma? Ha, like that'll ever happen.

* * *

You guessed it, its morning. I used my Ursaring to throw us out of the pit and we are now walking through the forest, aimlessly if I might add. It was sunny outside by now and if you must know, that bet we had is all but dissipated. That isn't even the main concern right now; the important thing is that we get out of this forest. We stopped to take a break in a small clearing that we stumbled upon. We sat on a giant rock and I looked up at the sky.

'This is a disaster.' I think to myself.

Suddenly my stomach growled, it was really loud too. Dawn looked at me and giggled.

"Hungry?" she asked me.

I just looked the opposite direction from her, "Yeah, but it's whatever."

She giggled again then grabbed her bag and started rummaging through it. She pulled out a candy bar that she had stashed in there, "Well I have this candy bar, we can split it."

My eyes widened, "You had food the entire time?!" I yelled.

She puffed out her cheeks, "Don't yell at me, I was saving it for an emergency!"

"Last night WAS an emergency, I was starving!"

"You weren't REALLY starving." She said, obviously trying to make some point. My eye just twitched and she took no more time delaying me from food. She ripped open the packaging and broke the bar in half, "Here" she said as she handed me a piece. I grabbed it and we both started eating our pieces. I had never appreciated a candy bar more than I am right now at this very moment. We sat there in a peaceful silence until she noticed some berries in a bush not far from where we were sitting.

"Hey! There are some berries, we can totally eat those! I'll go get them!" she jumped up and jogged over to the bush, she reached her hand out to grab some. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing wrong or dangerous about a simple berry bush, except for the Ursaring that randomly jumped out of the bush! It swung its paw right at Dawn's face, and knocked her out cold in one hit. Then he looked at me. I looked at my bag, he looked at my bag, I looked at him, he looked at me…then I made a jump for it. He started running towards me and I grabbed my bag and started frantically looking for a pokeball. Finally I wrapped my hands around one and pulled it out but it was too late as the Ursaring was now directly in front of me. I tried to release my Electivire but the Ursaring hit me first, taking me down in one shot.

* * *

I woke up several hours later, 'Ouch my face hurts, what happened?'

I looked around and see Dawn sprawled out on the ground. 'Oh yeah, we got attacked by an Ursaring. He hit both of us in the face and he took the rest of our food and…he took my money!'

* * *

Sooooo…we're walking, through the forest, still aimlessly carrying along. My body hurts so much I…I just…I just don't understand. How…how can we have such bad fortune? Why did all of this stuff happen to us? We…we're just lost in a forest. We were like zombies walking, slowly just dragging along. Suddenly Dawn tripped over a branch and did a face plant into the dirt, she just laid there. I leaned up against a tree and tried to catch my breath, I'm exhausted. We remained there in silence for a minute or two.

"Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"…We're lost."

"No Dawn, You're lost."

"…oh"

* * *

We finally came to a mutual agreement to work together in order to find our way out. Honestly I have NO idea what's so ever where we are. I don't understand HOW she even got us to this location; I have NEVER seen it before in my entire life. I released my Honchkrow and told him to find a path that would lead us to Jubilife City. It took a little while but he eventually came back and started showing us the way.

About half way through the trip, it had gotten too dark so we rested for the night. Right now it is morning again and we are ready to get moving. We walk down the path, following Honchkrow's directions. We are still covered in what is now dried mud, our clothes are all gross and disgusting from the rain and such; we both still have bear scratches on our faces, and I still have some poison ivy rashes. It was quiet; we were just relieved that we had a set plan on where we were going. The sun was high in the air, and the wind was blowing at a decent speed. I guess the wind had blown my hair into crazy directions because Dawn pointed it out.

"Hey Paul, You have a piece of hair sticking up." She said

. "Whatever, at this point I really don't care." I harshly said.

"Here, let me fix it." She said as she made a move to mess with my hair

. "No, leave it alone." I intervened.

As you can imagine, things quickly turned into an altercation. "Paul, just let me fix it!"

"No!"

She grabbed my hair, I grabbed her wrist, she grabbed my jacket, I shoved her. Things were getting pretty violent until BAM!

* * *

"Here's that bag of ice you wanted." Nurse Joy said as she handed it to Dawn.

Right now, Dawn and I are at the Pokemon Center in Jubilife City, finally right? Dawn grabs the bag of ice, "Thank you Nurse Joy."

"Try to be more careful next time." She says.

Dawn puts the ice on her eye and we start walking towards the video phones so that I can call Reggie. It was quiet between us, completely silent, we didn't even look at each other.

"…I can't believe you punched me in the eye." Dawn suddenly says.

I throw my hands in the air, "Oh my god! I did not punch you, I just hit it! Besides, we both know that it was an accident."

Dawn just blew the hair out of her face, "Yeah ok, whatever helps you sleep at night."

We walk up to the video phone and I dial Reggie's number. It rings a couple of times before he answers, "Hey guys!" he sings.

"Hey." We both say, Dawn obviously more joyful then me.

"You guys are just now getting here? I thought you were supposed to be here like 2 days ago?"

We both kind of fidget around a little bit, Dawn scratches the back of her head and laughs nervously, "Haha, yeah about that."

I roll my eyes, "That's what was planned, but that's not what happened now was it Dawn?" I harshly say as I glare at her.

"I wasn't lost, I just…took a really long detour." She defended.

I shook my head in a 'you know that that was a terrible excuse' sort of way. Reggie just laughed at us but then stopped when he noticed Dawn's injury.

"Hey Dawn, what happened to your eye?" he asked.

"Oh this? Paul punched me in the face." She nonchalantly responded.

Reggie gasped at hearing that, "PAUL!"

I put my hands up in defense, "No, that's not what happened! She's lying, it was an accident!"

Reggie just shook his head in disappointment, Dawn laughed evilly to herself. "I'll just let you two catch up, I'm going to go shower and get out of these clothes, I feel gross. Later." She said as she ran off.

I clenched my fist and held it up in her direction, 'I'm gonna get you later for this' I thought in vengeance. I drew my attention back to Reggie.

"So other than punching girls, what is your plan? Are you still going to challenge Brandon?" Reggie asks.

"Uh yeah, that's where we're headed now. After her contest and everything."

Reggie smiled a little bit after I said that, "What?" I ask him.

He looked at me and tried to cover up what he was thinking, "Oh, it's nothing, really. Just me being me."

I was going to question him on that when I remembered something else more important, "Oh hey Reggie, what did you want to talk to me about? Before, back in Sandgem Town?"

He gave me a questioning look and then remembered what he was thinking, "Oh yeah, I just wanted to tell you that I'm kind of glad that you and Dawn are 'going the same way'."

I didn't really know what he meant, "What do you mean?" I ask him.

"Well I think it'll be a good experience for you. You know? Having another person around and everything. I know that you are used to being alone and being by yourself. But little brother, I think that you could really use this. By having someone like Dawn around, someone who is so bright and cheery, that you'll learn what you learned over the course of the last couple of days, that you cannot always predict what another person will do. That sometimes what is planned doesn't always go the way you want, and that that's ok. I believe that it'll be really fun for you. You'll learn that there are negatives to having company, but that there are also a lot of positives, and those benefits will help shape you into an even better trainer."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah right, as if having her around will do anything but hold me back. Besides it's not like we are friends or anything." I sneered.

Reggie just shook his head and smiled, "Denial higher than the sun." he said under his breath.

He stretched his arms and yawned, "Whatever you say Paul. Aside from that, I sent you a scarf."

I raised an eyebrow, "Why do I need a scarf?"

"Well you are headed for Snowpoint aren't you? It gets pretty cold up there."

"I don't think I-"

"You might need it!" he yelled as he cut me off.

Why is he always so protective? As if I'll need a scarf, I didn't need one last time. "Well I'll see you later Paul." Reggie said.

"Yeah ok bye." I reply as I hang up.

I look down at myself; I really could use a shower and new clothes. I start walking towards the hallway, on my way to the room. On my way down the hallway I sneeze, "Achoo!" I sniffle a little bit.

'It was just one sneeze, nothing to worry about.'

This has been a rough couple of days, but then again I feel like we are always having a rough time. I don't understand how she can always be so optimistic, I hope it's not contagious. Even though I'm mean to her, she always has such patience. I will admit one thing if you promise not to tell. One thing about her, that keeps this journey from turning to hell. Even when we are not together I never feel abandoned. But I guess it's whatever, it's just me and my traveling companion.

* * *

**Yay! They're not just, 'going the same way' anymore!**

**He's excepted her as his traveling buddy! Art thou not pleased?!**

**Alrighty, enough of that. So I'm PLANNING to update sometime next week...or soon or whatever. Some people count sunday as the beginning of the week some people count it as the end. I honestly don't give a damn which it is. But I will tell you that the next chapter is my favorite so I don't think that I would post pone it. But it's going to be really long so be prepared!**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	5. You Need To Chill

**Haha get it chill? Coldness? Calm yourself?**

**Yeah I know I've been bad. It's been like two weeks since I've updated but I have a reason. So my manager got fire at work so me and the other girls had to cover those now empty hours. I worked almost everyday last week so, time was not of the essence. Plus I'll admit I got a little lazy. **

**So here is my favorite chapter. It took me two days to type, I usually do it all in one shot but I got so tired yesterday that I HAD to go to sleep.**

**Never the less! I finished so...here's chapter 5. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Soooooo, we are now wondering through the mountains. We have already gone through Jubilife City and passed through. Honestly we were there longer then we needed to be, but Dawn wanted to buy winter clothes because according to her, 'It's cold in the mountains'. I think she's over reacting but whatever, all I need is my jacket and nothing else. Aside from that, she had won her contest, so that's done and over with. The only thing now is for me to train more for my battle with Brandon. I'm actually getting pretty nervous, which is completely out of character for me. But seriously, Snowpoint City is only a couple days away, and then my battle is right there. I don't want to lose again, I know that I should have complete confidence in myself, but I had confidence in myself last time and I still lost. I don't understand how that loser Ash defeated him but neither my brother nor I can do it. But Reggie doesn't really count because he only tried once and then gave up. But not me, I'm going to train as hard as I can and then win that battle and win the brave symbol. I'm going to…I'm going to…I'm goin-ACHOO!

"Paul, are you still sneezing?" Dawn asked as she walked next to me."You might be getting sick."

She tried to put her hand on my forehead but I just brushed her away.

"I'm fine." I sneered.

We were just walking through the snow covered terrain. The ground was a pale white, there was icicles hanging from the tree branches and a cold breeze blew through the air.

"Paul, are you sure that you don't want to wear the scarf that Reggie left you? It's pretty cold out here." Dawn tried to reason

"No, I don't want it." I harshly said.

She tried to wrap the scarf around my neck, minus the fact that I just told her no. "All I need to do is one wrap and…and" she stood on her tippy toes trying to put the scarf on my neck as I shoved her away.

"I said no!" I growled.

She puffed out her cheeks and glared at me, "I was just trying to be nice!" she yelled as she shoved me back.

"Well I didn't ask you to!" I pushed her again.

"Don't push me Paul!"

By now this had turned into a full on shoving match.

"Dawn stop it!"

"You were the one who started it!"

The altercation came to an abrupt end as I was getting sick of fighting this girl, "Fine whatever!" I yelled as I stormed away.

"Where are you going?!" she screamed.

"I don't know! And I don't care!" I just kept going, in no particular direction.

"Paul wait!" I hear Dawn call from behind, but I don't bother to stop.

As I walk forward, I start to hear a strange cracking sound. I look down but don't see anything out of the ordinary; the only thing I see is snow on the ground. So I ignore it and keep going. After a couple of steps I begin to hear that noise again, but even more so than before. The ground starts breaking from under me and I realize that I wasn't walking on dirt but on a frozen lake. I try to get out of the way of the breaking ice but I was too late and I fall into the ice cold water. It was FREEZING, and I was trying as hard as I could to get out of the water. I push my head out of the water and throw my arms onto the ice. I inhale a breath of air and start to pull myself up. I feel Dawn struggling to help me out and it doesn't take long before I'm completely out of the lake and sitting on the ice. Dawn, being who she is, pulls me in to a lung crushing hug and smashes her cheek up against mine.

"Oh Paul, you have to be more careful, I was SO worried that I had lost you forever!" she sobbed.

I just sighed, "Calm down, all I did was fall into the water, no big deal."

"It IS a big deal, I saw a show about people who fall through ice and die because the cold water practically paralyzes you and you get all confused and can't find the exit and then the crack freezes over and then you can't get out and then you suffocate and drown. Suffocate and drown Paul! SUFFOCATE AND DROWN!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "I don't think that's a real thing."

"It is! And you need to be conscious of it." I pry her off of me and pick myself up off of the ground.

"Whatever, let's just keep going."

* * *

We stopped to make a fire because my clothes were soaking wet. It was pretty chilly outside and I wouldn't want to get sick. I sat close to the fire trying to dry off. I wasn't wearing my jacket because I wanted it to dry faster.

"Do you want my coat for now Paul? You know, so you don't freeze to death." She suggested.

"Why would I want to wear your girly pink coat?" I harshly asked.

"I don't know, I was just asking. You don't have to be so mean about it."

"Whatever", I got up, put my jacket back on, grabbed the poke balls from out of my bag. "I don't have time for this, I have to train."

* * *

I was training pretty hard for a while.

"Ursaring use Hyper Beam!" I commanded.

He charged up the move and shot it at Honchkrow who invertible dodged it. "Now –cough cough cough- Honchkrow use Sky attack!"

Honchkrow did as such and slammed straight into Ursaring. Though they were doing well, I wasn't satisfied. "Come on! You can do better than that! Ursaring Focus Blast!" Ursaring did as he was told and made a direct hit on Honchkrow, which knocked the pokemon out.

I sighed, "Now that's better."

I returned my pokemon to their balls and put them into my pockets.

"You know Paul you don't have to be so hard on them." Dawn said.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever I really don't feel like hearing your whole speech about being kind and understanding." I spat.

"Why have you been so ill-tempered lately?!" she argued.

"Because I'm just so done with dealing with you."

She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "Listen, I know that you are nervous about your battle but that doesn't give you an excuse to be so bitter."

"I'm not nervous!" I yelled.

"Yeah ok, whatever helps you sleep at night." She said under her breath. I put my hands in my pockets and walked off 'annoying girl'.

* * *

So it's been a while and things between Dawn and I have calmed down. Right now we are walking down a path, it's snowing still and the wind is blowing. My clothes are still a little wet but it doesn't bother me. I cough a couple of times but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

Dawn looked at me in worry, "Do you want to take a break Paul? I think that you-"

"I'm fine." I said as I cut her off.

She grabs my arm, "But Paul." I tear my arm out of her grasp, "I said I'm fine! We don't have any time to waste on petty things!"

Dawn stood there for a minute as I left her behind. Suddenly she broke into a full on sprint and tackle me to the ground. Obviously this turned into a fight, one that annoyed me.

"Dawn get off of me!" I yelled.

"No, you need rest!"

I kicked her off of me and made a motion to run but she quickly got back up and tried to jump at me. I moved out of the way and she stumbled as she was now balancing on her tip toes trying not to fall down the hill that stood behind her. Even with her best efforts she began her tumble down the slope, but not without first grabbing me and dragging me down with her. Our rolling bodies turned into a big snowball and picked up speed as we slid down the hill. We rolled and rolled and rolled and kept going until we finally slammed into a tree. We both groaned and picked ourselves up off of the ground. I look around at my surroundings and don't recognize anything. 'Great, we're lost again!' I thought to myself. I dusted myself off and harshly turned to her.

"Just great Dawn just great! We're lost, this is all of your fault!" I yelled at her.

Dawn sheepishly smiled, "Don't worry Paul, we'll figure this out." She said softly.

"Don't worry?! I have no idea where we are! Now we are going to be behind schedule even more then we already are! God can you be even more in the way!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to help, trying to be a good friend!"

"Yeah well I never asked you to help and I never asked you to be a good friend, besides we aren't even friends in the first place."

Dawn was clenching her fists so hard that she might actually start bleeding. "Well if that's how you feel, then I don't even know why we are traveling together."

"Me neither, so here's an idea, how about we just go our separate ways and never talk to each other again!" I harshly replied. I was fuming with anger, I couldn't even control myself. Dawn was shivering with emotions, and tears started running down her cheeks.

"Fine, I was sick of dealing with your attitude anyway." She whimpered.

"And I was sick you dealing with you all together. All you do is get in my way! I don't know why I even let you stay with me as long as you did, that's a mistake that I will never make again!" I angrily answered.

She was practically crying by now, "I'm leaving."

"Then go! Just go! I don't want you here!" I yelled.

"Jerk." She sneered as she turned around and walked off in the opposite direction from me. I sighed heavily and went in a different direction from her. Man am I pissed.

* * *

So it's been about 15 minutes since Dawn and I have parted ways. I've had time to cool down and honestly…I feel kind of bad. Why did I say all of that stuff to her, I really didn't need to; I feel worst then Pierre. I -cough cough- can't let this bother me. My battle with Brandon is right around the corner and I can't afford to let her get to me. I have my hands in my pockets and the wind is blowing my hair. I –cough cough- feel a little light headed but…I just ignore it. 'I better train some more' I think to myself. I find a small clearing and release my pokemon. "Alright guys ummm, set up for battle" I command them. They all get set up and we begin training.

So after a grueling 10 minutes, my sinus pressure became a huge distraction for me, oh did I mention I also had a headache.

"Electivire ummm, brick break." I slur.

He looks at me knowing full and well that it was a terrible move to use at this time.

"Um sorry I meant…" I take a deep breath and thought for a minute, "I forgot what I meant."

My pokemon all turned and gave me a worried look. "I'm fine." I assured them, "I just…feel a little dizzy." I rub the bridge of my nose and sigh. "Ummm, we'll continue training later." I say as I return all but one of them into their pokeballs. The only one left out is Torterra, he walked up to me and gave me a serious look.

"I'll be ok, don't worry." I tell him.

I return him to his pokeball and put it in my pocket. I start walking down a path; at least I think I was. Things looked a little fuzzy and I was still sort of dizzy.

'Boy is it hot out here.' I say to myself. '–cough cough- I better try and find a pokemon center.'

I try and walk forward but I feel like a huge weight is on my shoulders. I take a couple of steps –cough cough- and…and…I fall to my knees. I…feel so weak right now…I can't even walk. I crumbled down completely and my face buries itself in the snow. At least it's cold because I feel like I'm on fire. My eyes start closing, I…don't want to pass out…I really don't but…-cough cough- I can't help myself. I'm…sick.

* * *

I wake up, everything is still fuzzy but, I think that I can make out my surroundings. I'm…not outside anymore, I think I'm in a cabin. I'm lying down on a couch and covered in blankets. I turn my head to the right and see…Dawn? She hasn't noticed that I'm awake yet; she just keeps doing whatever it is that she is doing. She starts walking in my direction, so I close my eyes and pretend to still be asleep. There was a rag on my forehead, she grabbed it off of my head and put a new one on. This one was nice and cool; it felt so good on my steaming forehead. She turned around to walk away when I grabbed her arm.

She looked down at me, "Where am I?" I ask her.

She smiles, "We're in a cabin, you passed out in the snow so I brought you here."

She tried to walk away again but I pulled on her arm harder, she looked down at me but I refused to make eye contact with her, "Dawn…why are you helping me after what I said to you?"

She blinked a couple of times, then smiled and grabbed my hand and held it in her's. "Because no matter how mad I get at you, I would never just leave you to die."

"Die?" I ask her.

"Yeah, you have an extremely high fever; you would have never survived out there in the cold alone."

I was still a bit confused, "But…how did you know where I was?"

"Torterra came and found me; he must have forced his way out of his pokeball after you fainted."

'He is always the one who worries for me the most, probably because he was my first pokemon.' I think to myself. I sigh and start to sit up, "Well thanks or whatever but if you don't mind I need to train."

Dawn was quick to deny me of what I wanted to do, "No! You have to rest Paul, you're gravely ill! The only way you are going to get any better is if you sleep. Now just relax and let me make you some soup." She said as she pushed me back under the covers.

"I don't really want soup," I tell her.

"Yeah well that's what you're getting."

* * *

It's been a little while since Dawn pounced back into the kitchen and started cooking. I sort of just laid there, I couldn't really do much anyway, I didn't have any energy to. I rolled over and noticed that there was a window on the wall behind the couch I was sleeping on. I pulled myself up and looked out of it, minus Piplup who was in the kitchen with Dawn; all of our Pokémon were outside playing in the snow. I looked around at the scene and growled in envy at their…health. Torterra must have noticed me because he started walking towards the window I was at. With all of my strength I pushed it open and looked at him.

"Torterrraaaa." He grumbled.

"Yeah yeah I know, I should have listened to you. I was sicker than I wanted to admit." I said.

"Torteeerraa."

"Honestly, don't worry about me. I'll be fine with…" we both turned our heads and watched the scene of Dawn running frantically back and forth through the kitchen shouting "No need to worry!" as the sound of pots clanking and glass breaking filled the kitchen.

I turned back to Torterra, "Ok, I MIGHT be fine in Dawn's hands. But at least I'm not out in the cold or anything. So I should be fine soon." I assure him.

'I better be fine soon, this whole situation is a real hindrance on my training schedule. How am I supposed to defeat Brandon if I can't even bring up the strength to walk?' I say to myself.

* * *

Soooo I fell asleep, I don't even know when. I was talking to Torterra and then BAM, I'm out. I don't remember ever being this sick since I was like 6 when I ate that poisonous berry and got food poisoning. I remember that, it was awful, would prefer not to go back to that. I turn my head to the side and notice a glass of water sitting on the coffee table next to me.

'Now that I think about it, I am pretty thirsty'.

I reach my arm out and grab the cup. It feels SO heavy but maybe it's just because of my lack in strength. I struggle to keep my grip on the glass as I pull it closer and closer to my mouth until SLAM! Dawn's Piplup slapped the glass right out of my hands and it went flying into the wall and shattered.

My eyebrows twitch, 'I really wanted that water.' I thought.

Oh yeah, did I mention that her Piplup still hates me after what I said to her. He has like a death wish out on me. He laughed at my misery and strutted back into the kitchen. I don't deserve this.

* * *

After about 20 minutes, Dawn came out of the kitchen.

"Paul~" she sung.

"The soup is ready and I brought you a bowl!" she skipped over to me and held the bowl out.

"I told you that I don't want soup." I brutally said to her.

"Well you're sick, and this soup will definitely make you feel tons better!"

"Thanks, but no thanks."

Her eye twitched a little, "I'm pretty sure that you at least want to try one bite."

"I'm pretty sure I don't."

"I'm pretty sure that I could have left you out in the snow to perish."

"I'm pretty sure that you didn't need to bring that up."

"…eat. the soup. Paul." She gritted through her teeth.

"No." …..Things got really quiet between us.

Suddenly she slammed her foot onto my chest and held it there, forcing me to stay down. She dipped the spoon into the bowl and pulled out some soup, "Just eat it!" she yelled.

"No I don't want it!"

"I don't care if you want it or not! You need it!"

"I don't need anything!"

"You're a dying man in denial!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Dawn get off of me!"

"Not until you take at least one bit-HUUU!" Dawn gasped as she lost her balance and failed to keep her grip on the bowl and inevitably dropped the boiling hot soup all over me. I rapidly sat up in agony and yelled out in pain.

"Oh My God! I'm SO sorry I'm-OUCH!"

In all the commotion, my arms flung out and my hand accidentally hit her in the face.

"My other eye!" she shouted.

Piplup came running into the room in a 'What is going on in here?!' fashion. The scene he happened to see was Dawn doubled over in pain and me with my hand in a fist. He whipped his head around and stared daggers at me.

I tried frantically to defend myself, "No wait! It's not what you think!" I reasoned, or at least that's what I attempted to do.

* * *

Dawn came skipping out of the kitchen, "Paul~" she sang.

"The soup is ready and I brought you a bowl!" My now black eye twitched as I glared at her. If looks could kill then she would have died twice already. The room was agonizingly silent as we just stared at each other.

Dawn laughed nervously, "Maybe I'll save it for later."

"Yeah I think you should." I spat through my teeth.

* * *

Ok so by now it's night time. The sky is dark, the air is cooler, and the moon is high in the sky.

'Dawn must have gone to sleep.' I think to myself.

I roll over and lay on my side. 'I wish I felt better, I wish I could train and I wish I had another glass of water.'

I push the covers off of me and painstakingly push myself out of bed. As soon as I was on my feet I felt a little dizzy but after a minute or two the dizziness went away. I slowly dragged myself over to the small kitchen and looked around until I found a cup. I grabbed it, turned on the faucet, filled the glass with water and then turned the water off. Ah it felt nice and cool as it slithered down my thought. After taking a couple gulps I felt so out of breath.

'I'll just…sit down for a minute.' I tell myself.

I slid down onto the floor and leaned my back up against the counter. That's better, now I can catch my….

* * *

I open my eyes and realize that I fell asleep on the kitchen floor. There was a blanket on me and Dawn was at the stove cooking breakfast.

"You're finally awake sleepy head." She joked.

"Do you want help getting back to the couch?" she asked me.

I sighed, "No, I'm fine here, I need a change of scenery anyway."

For the next 20 minutes, I sat there and talked to Dawn while she cooked. She talked about this one weird dream she had and I talked about how I keep having these nightmares in which I lose to Brandon. After she finished, she handed me a plate of food and then left to feed the Pokémon. Breakfast was pretty good, so I can't complain about that. When she came back, she helped reintroduce me to the couch and got me back under the blankets and took my temperature.

"Still pretty high, but at least you are getting better right." She tried to lighten my spirits, if you hadn't noticed I'm not too happy about being this incapacitated.

"Yeah whatever." I grumbled.

Dawn giggled and then smiled, "Tell you what, You just lay here and get some sleep, and I'll pour you a cup of tea and make a batch of those cookies you love so much." She purred as she tucked me in even more. Now THAT"S how you lighten a guy's spirits. Alright, I get cookies, that makes me feel at least a little bit better.

* * *

After wolfing down 10 cookies, I found myself slumbering again. I had heard about the dreams you get from eating chocolate before bed, but I didn't know that they could be THIS vivid. I had this nightmare where I lost to Brandon without even defeating one of his pokemon, then he was like, "Haha, just kidding you actually won and I was like, "Really?" and he was like, "Haha no I'm kidding again, you actually lost." And then my eyes widened and I was like, "What?!" and he was like, "In fact, you lost so bad that I'm taking your pokemon away from you!" And suddenly all of my pokemon were behind him and they were laughing at me. And then Brandon was like, "I'm taking this too!" and randomly I was wearing a name tag that said, 'Hi, I'm a trainer.' So Brandon reached down and tore if off of my jacket and he was like, "You don't deserve to be called a trainer!" And then he started laughing and my pokemon were laughing and then Ash was laughing and then Dawn was laughing plus she was wearing my shoes AND my trainer name tag! My eyes shot open as I woke with a jolt. I sat up and tried to catch my breath. My heart was beating SO fast and I was sweating like crazy.

Just then Dawn walked in, "Paul what's wrong? Are you ok?" she asked out of concern.

I took a deep breath, threw the blankets off of me and got up, "I have to train."

I tell her as I make a B-line for the door. She jumps in front of me, "Hey wait a minute, you're still not fully healed, you need to take it easy."

"I have been taking it easy, but I don't have time for that anymore. If I don't keep improving then I will have no chance to win. I…I don't think I am quite ready yet, I'm afraid that I'm not strong enough." I confess to her.

She sighs, "Listen Paul, whatever happens happens ok? You can train until the cows come home, but it's not going to do you any good if you're sick. Once you're better then you will be able to think more clearly, you'll stand a better chance."

She put her hands on my shoulders, "Don't worry so much, I'll take care of everything. I'm going out to train my pokemon anyway, I'll just have yours train with me. And when you are all better, then you can fix any problems that you think need to be fixed ok? Take as long as you need to, the battle pyramid isn't going anywhere." I sighed, maybe she was right, maybe I was over reacting.

But then I thought about what I saw in my dream, I squinted my eyes at her, "Oh I see how it is, trying to take my title huh?" I accuse her.

She just stared at me, "…What?" I take a second to over think what I just said.

"Wait a minute, that didn't really happen did it? That was just a dream right?" I figured. She continues to give me a questioning look.

"Paul…go back to bed."

* * *

So by the next morning I was feeling SO much better than I had been feeling the last couple of days. According to Dawn my fever has gone down tremendously so she 'allowed' me outside to train with my pokemon. We went over all of the moves and tried to make improvements where they were needed. Man was it good to be back in the game.

Considering the fact that I'm well enough to do things, we decided to finish our journey to Snowpoint City. Dawn forced me to wear the scarf that Reggie left me, saying that 'it would help prevent future illnesses', she doesn't know what she's talking about. As we finally reached the city, I was relieved that we had made it. We walked through the streets and found our way to the Pokemon center.

"Finally here!" Dawn said as she stretched her arms out.

"Tell me about it." I agreed.

We walked to our room and put our stuff down on our designated beds.

I sat down on my bed and let out a sigh. "Just to think that my rematch is only two days away." I said.

"Oh you'll do great." Dawn added in her usual brand of confidence.

Suddenly her stomach growled and she blushed. "I guess I'm pretty hungry." She joked, I just rolled my eyes.

"You want to go get something to eat?" she suggested.

I shook my head, "No that's ok, I'm just going to train."

"Oh course." She said as if she half expected that to be my answer. "Well I'm going to go grab a bite, I'll bring you back something because knowing you, you're just going to skip dinner in order to allow more training time."

"What's wrong with that?"

* * *

So honestly I didn't go to dinner nor did I eat breakfast the next morning. Dawn forced me to go to lunch with her, saying that I'm "out of control" don't know what she's talking about. So I had lunch and then can you guess what I did after that, yup, I trained. I trained all night and then the next morning. I'm not supposed to train the afternoon before my battle because I wouldn't want my pokemon to be worn out beforehand. So I went back to the pokemon center and gave them to nurse joy. That night Dawn had dragged me to this fancy place somewhere in the city. I sat there and she sat across from me, we both had food in front of us and she was going on about some strategy she had for her next contest. I was only half listening and half picking at my food. Solemn demeanor.

She stopped talking and looked at me, "You ok Paul?" she asked.

I pushed my food around with my fork a little bit more and then pushed my plate away. "I don't feel like eating this." I replied.

"Is it not what you wanted?"

"It's not that, I'm just not hungry." I tell her.

She gave me a concerned look, "Are you really that nervous?"

"I'm not nervous." I instantly threw back at her.

"Paul, you're going to do fine."

"I said I'm not nervous! So you can stop worrying about me." I harshly said.

We sat there in silence for a minute before Dawn perked up and smirked. "You know Paul? You look super tired, I think you need rest." She stood up, grabbed my arm and started leading me out of the restaurant.

"You are going to need all of the sleep you can get before your big day tomorrow." She sung.

I could tell that she was up to something, but I wasn't going to call her out on it yet. She dragged me all the way back to the pokemon center, up the stairs, down the hallway and into our room. Once in the room, she pulled my jacket off, pushed me onto my bed, tucked me in and then smiled, "Now why don't you get some sleep." She said as she petted my head.

"But I'm not tired," I told her.

"I think that you are."

"But my shoes are still on."

We both looked down and my sneakers were sticking out from under the covers. She walked over, pulled them off and threw them across the room.

"Better?" she asked.

"Not really."

"Good."

"But I haven't showered yet."

"Just shower in the morning, God Paul you're so needy."

It got silent in between the both of us, "I'm not tired."

Dawn took a deep breath, "Well you know what? You're still a little sick so, ya know recovery."

I squinted my eyes at her, "What are you up to Dawn?" I asked her.

She smiled a bright fake smiled, "What makes you think that I'm up to something. I'm just trying to be a caring person to my dear friend Paul."

I glared at her, "You are so full of it."

"Forget it!" she yelled as she kicked off her shoes and jumped into her bed.

I stared at her for a minute more before deciding to not worry about her shenanigans for now. I roll over, grab the remote and turn on the TV. Oh some pokemon battles are on, I can pick up some strategies for tomorrow's…

* * *

The sun shines through the window and burns through my eyelids. I guess I was tired after all. I don't think Dawn really knew that though, I think she was just taking a shot in the dark. Speaking of her, I turn over and noticed that she wasn't in her bed; I'm not all that surprised about that. I rub my eyes and slouch around a bit before I finally got up. I walked into the bathroom and did the usual: shower, brush teeth, fix hair. As I walked out, I noticed a note taped to the room door, it read:

"Dear Paul, something came up, had to go. Will meet you at the Battle Pyramid. And I swear to God you better eat something for breakfast or I'm going to punch you in the face. From Dawn."

I just kept staring at that one line, why do I HAVE to eat breakfast again?

* * *

So after picking my pokemon up from nurse joy, I started making my way towards the battle pyramid. I let out a breath of air.

'I guess this is what I've been waiting for.' I say to myself.

'I'll admit that I am kind of nervous, who am I kidding, I'm REALLY nervous. I don't want to lose again. I want to be better than Reggie. I want to do what he couldn't. I don't get it, why is it that Ash could defeat him yet I can't? I don't like those odds.' My fists tighten as I think about it.

'I mean what if I lose?' I shake my head, 'Don't think about that now Paul'.

I look forward and see the structure start to come into view. I take a deep breath, 'no turning back now.'

As I get closer I notice that Brandon is waiting outside, so I walk up to him.

"I hear that you desire a battle me young man." Brandon says as he looks at me.

I pride up my stance and hide my nerves, "Yeah that's right. And I plan to win this battle too."

Brandon smiles, "Well that is some great confidence that you have there, but it will be your skills that determine the tide of this battle."

I nod my head and Brandon began to lead me inside. 'I wonder where Dawn went.' I think to myself.

As we get closer to the arena, I can't help but notice the muffled sounds of…people? We enter the arena, and as soon as I walk in, crowds among crowds of people start cheering for me. There were hundreds of people here, there was a marching band, and a group of cheerleaders, people with streamers, someone handing out food, there was a clown.

"What is this?" I ask Brandon.

He looks at me and smiles, "I don't know, how about you ask your little friend." He says as he points to Dawn. I look and see her standing there in the front row waving both of her hands and smiling as bright as she possibly could.

I walk over to her, "Dawn…what is all this?"

"Well I figured that if I created a silly situation, then you wouldn't feel so nervous. Nerves can be extremely distracting, I would know." She laughs. I WANT to be mad at her for creating SUCH a scene but…it's hard to.

"How did you even organize this?" I ask.

She just shrugs her shoulders, "I know a lot of people."

I sigh, "Must you always make a scene?"

She smiles and sticks her tongue out at me, "You know it!"

I rolled my eyes and tried to hide the fact that I wasn't all that annoyed. She playfully punched me and laughed, "Now go out there and win this."

"Hn, that's what I planned to do." I harshly said as I walked away from her and into my designated box.

The referee came out and shouted the rules, "This is going to be a full battle, substitutions allowed!" he yelled. "Are both trainers ready?" I nodded my head and Brandon did the same. "Now, let the battle…BEGIN!" Brandon was the first one to make a move, "Regirock I need your assistance!" he yelled as he threw the pokeball and the said pokemon appeared out onto the field. 'That's what he started with last time.' I thought to myself, I wanted to throw out Ursaring but…I'm not feeling so sure. I look into the crowd and see the clown throwing pies at people. It was extremely distracting and in a way…kind of funny. This one girl got SO mad that she got up and tried to storm off but slipped on a balloon animal. I tried my hardest not to laugh. I will admit that I wasn't feeling nervous anymore. 'Alright, focus Paul'

"Ursaring, stand by for battle!" he came out and growled as he was ready for a command. I brush the hair out of my face, and looked straight forward at the opponent in front of me. "Alright, let's do this." I say as I prepare myself for the brutal battle ahead.

* * *

The crowd was dead silent, even the marching band wasn't making a sound. Brandon and I were both down to our last pokemon and I was literally holding my breath.

"Electivire, Brick Break!" I yelled.

"Regirock, Stone Edge!" Brandon commanded.

Both Pokemon collided and smoke filled the air, no one yet knowing the outcome of the battle. I swear my heart wasn't beating in those couple of seconds. The crowd stared, I stared, Brandon stared, and then finally the dust cleared to relieve both pokemon still standing. They both stood there for a minute and then one fell but…it wasn't mine…it was Regirock! Which means…

"I won."

The crowd burst out into a roar as the victor of the battle was revealed. "Regirock is unable to battle, Paul is the winner!" the referee yelled. I…can't believe it. I really can't believe it, I won! The crowd was going wild. The marching band was playing, the cheerleaders were cheering, the clown was…doing clown stuff. There were streamers flying and poppers popping and fireworks fireworking. I was relieved, Brandon was confused, the referee was laughing, this…this was crazy. Suddenly Dawn ran up to me and practically tackled me to the floor. She wrapped her arms around my neck and push her face up against mine.

"YOU WON! HAHAH! OH MY GOD YOU'RE AMAZING PAUL!"

She locked her hands in mine, spun me around, and then caught me in another hug.

"You did it you did it You did it!" she yelled.

I hate physical contact but…I was just SO happy that I found myself hugging her back.

"Yeah I did do it didn't I." I bragged.

Brandon walked over to us and smiled, "This has been a great battle young man, I am proud to present you with the brave symbol." He said as he handed me the badge.

"Thank you." I said as I bowed to him.

He looked next to me and noticed Dawn standing there. "I see you found someone to help you control your emotionswith." He said.

Me and Dawn both looked at each other, blushed and then looked opposite ways. "It's not like that." We said simultaneously.

He laughed, "Not yet." he said under his breath. "Well no matter how you did it, you have really improved since the last time we battled; it always brings me joy to see trainers finding their inner strength. Continue to do so and you will grow into an even greater trainer." He said.

I nodded my head, "I will."

I turned around and looked at the out of control crowds around me. 'It still baffles me how she was able to organize something like this in such a short amount of time. I will admit that it DID keep me from getting nervous, and it helped ward away my extreme desire to outdo Reggie. I guess to say the least, Dawn really is amazing when she wants to be.'

* * *

It was late at night by now and Me, Dawn and our pokemon all sat in a giant field. After a battle like that, I didn't mind if my pokemon just sat there and relaxed, they really did deserve it. Dawn and I were sitting together a little distant from them, not for romantic reasons, just because. The whole rest of the day, I couldn't stop talking about how glad I was that it was over and about what was going through my mind during the entire thing. I haven't talked this much in a LONG LONG time, but I felt like I couldn't stop. I can't even explain the relief I felt after I was declared the winner.

"Dawn you have NO idea how bad I've wanted this." I confided to her.

She playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh course I know how much this meant to you, it's been like you're main goal. We HAVE been traveling together for a couple months, I'd have to be stupid to not notice."

"It's really been that long?" I asked.

"Yeeeah." She chirped.

"Well I haven't noticed."

"That's because you have been training so much silly." She giggled and I chuckled just a little bit, "I guess I have haven't I?" She giggled again and shook her head. "Oh Paul." I turned my head the other way, "Shut up."

Dawn perked up and then turned to look at me, "Oh Paul before I forget, I got you a present."

"A present?"

"Yeah, for winning." She reached behind herself and pulled out a wrapped rectangle box with a big bow on it. I don't know how I didn't notice it before but whatever. She handed me the box and smiled. I looked at it and grabbed onto the wrapping reluctantly. I started pulling it off and then opened the box to reveal…a jacket, and not just any jacket, it was THE jacket.

"You got me the jacket I wanted?" I asked her."But how did you know that I wanted it?"

"Paul, we walked by the window displaying it like 5 times when we were in Jubilife City, it was obvious you wanted it."

So if you must know, the jacket we are talking about is a jacket that I saw way back in Jubilife City. It looks kind of like the one I already have, but it has these really awesome zippers, and the collar has these sharp edges plus it has a hood in case it rains, and the wrists have these cool metal bottoms on them. All in all, it was just perfect. I really need a new one too because my jacket is getting worn out, but the one I wanted was crazy expensive.

"Dawn oh my God, how did you even afford this?"

She fiddled around a little bit and blushed. "Well I was saving up for these highlight red, rubber diamond stubbed cowgirl boots that I saw in Undella Town back when I was visiting Ash in the Unova Region. But…this seemed so much more important."

I looked at her, I was so confused. "I don't get it, why would you do all of this for me? You took care of me when I was sick, you organized a whole relay party for me, you bought me this jacket, and that's not even everything. Even though I'm mean to you then you still talk to me, you're always smiling and always going out of your way to help me. I don't completely understand Dawn. Why? " I asked her.

"Well, because you're my friend, that's what friends do, we help each other. I mean, we are friends aren't we?"

I thought about it, 'We do hang out all the time, and minus my brother, she's the only other person I talk to a lot, and if there was one person that I would go to if I needed something then I guess that would be her too, sooo….I guess that would make us friends right?' I look at her and do something that is way out of line for me, I smile, "Yeah, I guess we are friends aren't we?" I say to her.

"Full on!" she yells in excitement. "Friends forever!"

'Now that I think about it, I have been sitting here talking to her for a while now, and honestly it's been kind of fun hanging out with her, but as if I would ever admit that out loud. I guess this is what it feels like to have a friend.' I look at her, 'I don't have any other friends, so I guess this makes Dawn me only friend. Personally I think that friends are just a hindrance and they get in the way. Nobody NEEDS friends, but I guess it's nice having one.'

Dawn grabs my arm and starts shaking me, "Come on Paul, try it on. I want to see what it looks like on you!" she yells.

I sigh, "Alright alright calm down, let me just grab it." I take my old jacket off and put the new one on, it was a perfect fit.

"It looks awesome!" Dawn cheers. Even her Piplup complimented me on it. I really did like it, I look great in it.

This whole week has put me in a tizzle. Almost like that rain that was more like a drizzle. Though in the beginning I was indifferent to her so. Now I feel like I could never let her go. A friend to me now, something that I don't take lightly. I view her much differently, a lot more brightly. The kindness that she has shown me, I swear not to forget. Even if she leaves me for losing one of our bets. This can turn bitter if things go so wrong. But I'll keep playing on and see for how long. And though she's annoying and loud and a pain. Her presence makes a difference and I guess in a good way. So long as things between us don't break or don't bend. Time together we will continue to spend. Odd for me I know this might all seem. But it's not like I've never done anything more extreme. I guess this game will continue to the end. But I guess it's whatever it's just me and my only friend.

* * *

**YESHHHH! FRIENDS!AMIGOS! THE MOMENT THAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!**

**I know that this chapter is super long, well at least by my standards, but seriously didn't want to break it up into two. So I left it as one. Hope you liked it because I had SO much fun with it.**

**Ok, so I'm aiming for next week, but considering my current track record, that probably won't happen. I'll try though, I promise! I know what's supposed to happen, I just need to fill in the details. **

**So wish to see you all next chapter!**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	6. Sorry To Interrupt

**Haha get it? InterRUPT...volcanoes erupt...? Ok, I really like that one.**

**I Know I Know I Know! It's been AWHILE. I'm not trying to take so long, it's just that classes started so I've been SUPER busy with homework, and class and work. It took me 5 separate days to try and get this finished. But I have NO intentions of discontinuing so don't even let that cross your mind. But chapter updates will definitely slow down, but I'll try my best to update faster.**

**So enough with the apologies, hereith is chapter 6.**

**Enjoyith! **

* * *

So it's been a couple of years since Dawn and I have become official friends, well official in my books. Not much has changed really, we still always argue with each other. She still says that I'm a jerk and that I'm too mean, and I still say that she's annoying and that she's too optimistic, same old same old. We do travel a lot though, but you probably guessed that. We've been all over the place, we've been to Kanto and Hoenn, we even spent some time in Unova, but that's mainly due to me entering leagues. Back when we were still in Sinnoh, Dawn had made it all the way to the grand festival, but sadly didn't win. She was doing good in the beginning, and I mean REALLY good, she was destroying her competitors. But when she got down to the last round, it was between her and this other kid, and he was…how do I put this into worlds…ongenious. He used moves that I had never seen before, Dawn stood no chance. I thought he was good, ME, the guy who thinks everyone else is bad, can you not yet see this guy's skills.

Anyway, she was pretty devastated by the loss, but she eventually got over it. Now she's into this pokemon designer thing. She likes designing outfits for people and also for people's pokemon. I don't know, you know how she can be, all girly and creative and what not. With her only being 14, she doesn't have a huge clientele yet, but she's starting out pretty good I guess, building her way up and whatever. So whenever I'm entered in a league, she sort of just works in the area where I'm at. Occasionally we have to split ways for a week or two because of conflicting schedules, but we make it work. Right now we are in Johto and are about to be on our way to Kalos. I had never been there and neither has Dawn, so I guess it would be cool to check it out. We're walking through the airport, pushing our way through crowds and crowds of people. It's so busy here that it almost annoys me. Luckily we already had our pokemon transported over to the pokemon center in Kalos, that way we didn't have to deal with them too.

"Paul, I can't wait to get to Kalos, I had heard that it is SO beautiful there. Plus it'll be a great inspiration point." Dawn sung, "I'm so glad to be going on vacation, we have really needed one."

I rolled my eyes, "We're not going on vacation Dawn, I need to train before entering the next league."

"Whatever you say Paul…but I still think we're going on vacation." She said under her breath.

We continued to walk through the busy center and to my discontent we just happened to run into an all too familiar person. "Hey guys!" Ash yelled as he waved both of his hands in the air. He ran up to us and smiled. "Crazy running into you guys here." He said.

"I know right? What are you doing here?" Dawn asked.

"I'm catching a plane to Kalos." Dawn's face lite up at hearing that, "We are too!" she yelled.

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"That's awesome! You know, I had heard about how pretty it was there…" So Dawn and Ash just talked on and on and on, I couldn't handle it. Finally I heard the sound of a woman talking over the intercom, "Plane C6 to Kalos now boarding." She said. Finally, we could get out of here. I turned to Dawn who was still talking.

"Dawn, we have to go, NOW." I harshly said.

"Alright alright, I'm coming." She concluded.

She waved bye to Ash and we both walked away towards our plane. "We should have lunch with him sometime." Dawn suggested.

I rolled me eyes, "Maybe YOU can have lunch with him."

She playfully sighed, "You're always so difficult." She teased.

We gave our suitcases to one of the employees and then boarded the plane. I sat on the inside, closes to the window and Dawn sat just beside me. I rested my head back and closed my eyes. I could hear one of the stewardesses guiding someone to their seat, "Here you go sir, right here." The boy thanked her and sat in a seat in the row next to the one that Dawn and I were in. 'Please don't be who I think it is.' I say to myself. I turn my head to the left and guess what? It is who I was thinking.

"Hey guys!" Ash yelled.

I sighed, 'This is going to be a long flight.'

* * *

Did I mention how much Ash annoys me, and did I also mention how much it annoys me that Dawn and him are friends. Every time we run into him, and we run into him a lot, they act as if they haven't talked in years.

"Oh, how are you?"

"I've been great, I went here, here, and here and did this, this, and that."

It's ridiculous that I have to constantly deal with this. They talked for the longest time, why oh why did I have to be next to them? After some time they finally shut up and I was able to get some nice peace and quiet. Dawn just sat there sketching outfits in her drawing book, but she's usually doing that now a days. I looked out of the window at the sky that we were flying through. It looked kind of grayish; I hope we don't get a storm. Suddenly I feel something tugging on the sleeve of my jacket, I turn my head and see that it was Dawn.

"What?" I ask her.

"Hey Paul, when we get to Kalos…we should visit, I mean after your training and everything, we should visit that tall tower that I've heard about in Lumiose City." She said.

"Why would I want to do that?" I harshly spat.

"Well…you know…I…I heard that it's supposed to be really…roman-"

"Already sounds stupid, no thanks, I have other things that I would rather be doing. Besides, I already told you, this isn't a vacation."

She frowned and then looked the opposite direction from me, "Yeah…you're right…it does sound stupid. Sorry for suggesting it." She softly said as she stood up and started walking away from me, "I'll be back, I have to go to the bathroom."

I just rolled my eyes, 'What's her problem?'

* * *

I moved my head around a bit, why my does my pillow feel so hairy? I guess I had fallen asleep. Suddenly the plane jolts and it throws me a good couple centimeters into the air, which by the way completely woke me up. I look around and realize how dark it is. Dawn must have fallen asleep too because her head was rested on my shoulder. I must have used her head as a pillow, which explains why my 'pillow' was so hairy. I look outside and realize that we are flying straight through a nasty storm. I turn back to Dawn and try to wake her up. "Hey, wake up." I said as I lightly shook her. "Cilan, no that piece of cake is mine." She whispered in her sleep. Her eyes shot open as the plane jolted again, but this time more violently then before.

"What? What?" she said as she looked around semi confused, "What happened? Is Ash dead?!" she yelled.

I don't even want to know why that was the first thing she thought of. "No we're just caught in a storm." I told her.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, but at that moment the plane started shaking. Some of the other people on the plane started to panic.

"We are hitting some turbulence, everyone please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts." The pilot said over the speakers.

Everyone was frantically trying to buckle their seat belts, it was complete chaos. Dawn grabbed a hold of my arm and tightened her grip, "I'm scared." She told me. "We're going to be fine." I assured her, but at that very moment I happened to look out of my window only to see lightning strike right through the wing. My breath hitched as the plane broke out into a full-blown spiral out of the sky. The oxygen bags fell out from their compartments, and people were struggling to put them on. People were screaming, Dawn was screaming, she was crying and shouting, "We're going to die!" and for once I thought that she might actually be right. Sometimes there aren't enough words in the world to describe horror. I watched everything happening in front of me and it was almost as if it wasn't real. It was almost like it was in slow motion: Dawn's hysterical, people crying, people praying, kids are screaming, there's the one guy who failed to buckle his seat belt in time and is now floating in mid air. I watch in terror as our plane screeches out of the sky, bringing a trail of black smoke with it. And without any warning or without any heads up, I black out.

* * *

My head hurts, I shouldn't have had so much to drink last night…wait what? My eyes shot open as I remembered what had happened. I look around; I'm under a tree on a beach and our suitcases are sitting next to me. 'What happened? Where are we?' I think to myself. I scan over the area around me; different articles of clothing covered the beach along with other people's personal belongings. The remains of the flaming plane sit there in pieces on the shore. People are gathering their things and trying to help others who are either injured or need help, which then brings a thought to my head. 'Dawn?!', I look back and forth and don't see her anywhere, so I get up and start searching for her. I walk around and scan over the tragedy that now stands before me, the misery that fills the hearts of many of the people standing here right now. Suddenly I walk straight into someone, I look up and of course it had to be Ash.

"Have you seen Dawn?" I ask him.

"Yeah, she went to help people out of the wreckage." He replied.

Ash looked at me, grinned and then started nudging me with his elbow, "Whaaattt? You were worried about her?" he teased. I stared daggers at him and then pushed him away from me.

"No, and how about you mind your own business loser." I spat.

He frowned at my cruel statement, " Hey! I'm not a loser!" he defended.

I went to say something but Dawn cut in, "Can you not? We just got in a huge accident and you guys are already fighting? Go help people or something. Go on, scram!" she said as she clapped her hands at us as if we were easily frightened animals. How dare she treat me like that, I'm not some animal, but then again that clapping IS kind of loud, I better get out of here.

* * *

I guess we had crash landed on some remote island in the middle of the ocean that lies between Johto and Kalos. The pilot said that it would be a couple of days before help would be sent, that's a real hindrance on my plans but I guess I can't do anything about it now. He suggested that we find food and water and try to make ourselves some sort of shelter. Dawn went out to look for food with a group of people, which is good I guess because she's mad at me. Something about me unnecessarily picking fights with Ash. She says that I'M out of control and that I am the problem. It is not ALL of my fault; Ash is the one who keeps getting in my face with his…cheeriness. Either way, she blames me. So I guess while she's getting food, I should build us some kind of shelter. I've decided to venture into the forest of this island and see what resources I can get.

* * *

So I found some large sticks and a bunch of these really big leaves, perfect. I start putting things together and constructing some sort of structure. After a good 20 minutes of building, I feel as though I have accomplished what I had set out to do. The food-gathering group comes back, carrying some fruit and a couple fish they had caught. Dawn jogs over to me and smiles, "We found some food, which is good and we also found a stream of fresh water which is super good news because…" she stops talking as she looks over at my creation, "Wha…what is that?" she asked. I look at my house and then look back at her, "It's our house." I replied. She stood there staring at me in confusion for a minute before saying anything, "Oh…"

"What?"

"I…I was just wondering why you were calling it a house."

"Because it's a house."

She still obviously couldn't wrap her head around what I was saying.

"It's not a house Paul." She blatantly said to me.

"What do you mean it's not a house?" I harshly asked her, a bit offended by her belittlement of my shelter.

"It's just four sticks stuck upright in the sand in a square shape and giant leaves placed on top of them." We just stood there in silence, staring at each other.

I sucked my teeth and then roughly sighed, "You don't HAVE to stay in my house." I gritted through my teeth.

"It's not a house!"

* * *

It was late and a couple of individuals had built a fire on the beach, so people sat around it, passing around food, water, and blankets. I sat under my house and Dawn sat next to me, wrapped in a blanket. She had managed to save her sketchbook from the wreckage, so she was busy drawing in it.

"The sky is so pretty out here Paul." She said.

"Yeah I guess." It became silent between us, but it wasn't an awkward silence, something a little more serene.

"I'm really glad that everyone is ok, you know? That we're all safe and what not." She admitted, "I was so afraid that one of us would be dead, or even worse, both of us would be dead."

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "But if you were dead, then you couldn't feel fear. So then you wouldn't be worried that you were dead."

"I was panic stricken Paul, I couldn't think straight."

"Yeah well I feel like you never think straight." I replied.

She puffed out her cheeks and looked away from me, "Well at least I know how to build a real shelter." She said under her breath.

I glared at her, "What did you say?"

She rolled her eyes; "I didn't say anything Paul." ….It was quiet between us again.

"Yeah I'm glad we all made it out too." I said.

"Totally." Dawn laughed.

* * *

Ok so it's the next day, and today I unfortunately end up spending all of it with Ash. And I don't mean like that, it's just how things turned out. I had woken up before Dawn, so the first thing Ash and me did was draw on her face. When Ash first suggested it to me, I thought it was a stupid and childish idea, but it was actually pretty funny. We drew a monocle around one of her eyes and drew a mustache on her face and gave her freckles, she's going to be pissed when she sees it. The second thing Ash and I did was go swimming. He suggested it to me and honestly, I thought that it was a stupid idea too, but the cool water felt nice, it gets pretty hot on the scorching beach. So we went swimming at this waterfall that someone found in the forest, it was us and a couple other guys there, pretty chill right?

After that we played checkers. Yeah, someone happened to have a checkerboard and..and…you know what, it doesn't matter where we got it from, point is that we have it. So we played checkers, or at least we tried to. He tried to tell me that a king can't fly over 2 pieces but I tried to tell him that we were playing flying kings, and things sort of escalated from there and I ended up flipping the board so…there was no winner in that situation. I guess he can be pretty cool when he's not being annoying, either way I had a pretty great day. At about Midday, Ash and I had been walking through the camp and I happened to notice that Dawn wasn't there, but I didn't worry too much about it, she's probably out getting food or something. It wasn't until sunset that I was getting a little worried. You hear that? Only a little, so don't get the wrong idea. I walked over to one of the girls that I know Dawn talks to.

"Hey, do you know where Dawn went?" I asked the girl.

"Yeah, she went to go draw scenery." She said. I thanked her and then walked away.

"Should we look for her?" Ash questioned.

I shook my head, "No, I'm sure she'll be fine." We started walking towards my house when the wind blew Ash's hat right off of his head and into the water. We went to go get it and in the process got our shoes wet. We were able to get his hat back but I hated the feeling of soaked shoes.

"I think I have sandals in my bag." Ash said.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, I think I have some too." I replied.

Ash went to go look in his suitcase and I went to do the same. I unzipped my suitcase and started looking through it. Ash ran over, sporting his new sandals.

"Did you find yours?" he asked.

"No."

"Wouldn't you know if you had them?" He asked me out of confusion.

"No, Dawn packed everything and I had set some sandals aside and I don't know where she put them." This was a real dilemma for me.

"I'll just have to ask her when she gets back." I concluded.

"So what are we going to do until she returns?" Ash asked.

"…Wanna play cards?"

* * *

The sun shone bright and stood high in the sky. I had my back leaned up against one of the sticks I used to build my house. I fidgeted around a bit and felt my leg kick someone. I stretch my arms and slowly open my eyes to realize that Ash is leaning up against another one of the sticks sleeping. I see that the cards are still spread out in front of us on the sand. I look around and happen to notice that a certain bluenette is still M.I.A. I kick Ash again, but this time a little harder,

"Hey, wake up." I said to him.

"What is it?" he grumbled.

"Dawn's still not here."

"What?"

"Dawn's still not back." I repeat. That's when he completely registers what I'm saying.

"Oh my god, we have to go find her!" He yelled as he jumped up.

"Calm down! Maybe she just fell asleep in the forest. I mean really, how much trouble could she have gotten into?"

* * *

We walked through the trees, trying not to trip over any rocks. "That girl back at the beach said that Dawn went to the waterfall." I said. We finally reached our destination and looked upon the large waterfall that now stood before us. "I don't see her." Ash said. I walked around the area and noticed a spear sticking in the mud. 'What the…?'

"Hey Paul!" Ash yelled.

I ran over to him, and he handed me something that I wasn't too thrilled to see. It was Dawn's sketch book, but no Dawn. I opened up the book and turned to the last couple pages with drawings on them. It was almost like a flip book, she drew everything that happened: she was sketching scenery and then suddenly a group of what looked like to be natives came out from the trees. Then they chased her around and then one of them grabbed her and then the drawings stopped. I don't even want to know how she drew it all out and I don't want to know what they did with her.

"Oh no! She was kidnapped! We have to go save her!" Ash yelled.

I looked at the book, I looked at Ash, I looked at the book, I looked at the forest, and then I sighed, "…I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Paul!"

"I know I know, we can't leave her."

* * *

We searched and searched for hours in the forest without any hints of where she could be. It's hot, we're tired, we're hungry, and we're both starting to get agitated. "I feel like we've been walking in circles." Ash complained. "Do you even know where we're going?"

"No." I replied.

"What?! Then what have you been doing?"

"Looking for Dawn."

"Well you're not doing a very good job." I stopped dead in my tracks and then turned to him, "You think you can do better?!"

"I know I can."

"Yeah right, you couldn't guide us even if it would save your life."

"Hey! You should be nicer to me; if it wasn't for me then you would have never met Dawn in the first place!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"She's MY friend, so I don't even know why she hangs out with you!"

"News flash loser, she's my friend too!"

"Oh really?! I was under the impression that she was your girlfriend!"

"I already told you, she's not my girlfriend!" I yelled as I shoved him.

"Well if she's not your girlfriend then it shouldn't bother you that I kissed her when you fell asleep on the plane!" he shouted as he shoved me back.

"YOU BITCH!"

That was the last straw; I tackled him to the ground and started punching him in the face. He got a good couple of hits on me but this was a full on fight. I will admit that things did get out of hand, but that was only until we heard rustling in the woods.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Ash.

"Yeah."

We stopped fighting and picked ourselves up off of the ground. I turned around only to be greeted by a spear in my face. Suddenly we were surrounded by a group of people that were all holding spears and sticks in their hands and all pointed at us. At this point, the only thing we could do was put our hands in the air and surrender.

* * *

They led us through the forest and into their village. It was a fairly large village, with several buildings and many houses. The natives wore clothes that were constructed out of leaves and other natural materials. They brought us through one of their buildings and locked us up in what appeared to be a jail cell made of thick mud walls and heavy logs as bars. Ash and I sat there, leaning up against the cold walls, wondering how we ever got ourselves into this mess. It was pretty quiet in-between us, we were both still covered in bruises and scratches from the fight we had in the forest.

"Hey Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"…I didn't really kiss Dawn on the plane. We're just friends you know. And…I know that you guys are only friends too, it's just fun to tease you sometimes." Ash said.

"Yeah well I sort of overreacted; I was just so tired and hungry and you kept running your mouth so I kind of lost it." I admitted. Even though it was so hot outside, the mud walls kept it fairly cool in here, which I guess wasn't too bad. Whoever constructed this building either has good craftsmanship, or just has a lot of time on their hands because it looked pretty nice.

Ash sighed, "I wonder what they're going to do to us?"

"I am also curious about that." I added.

"Maybe they'll eat us."

I looked at Ash, "Do you seriously think they'll eat us?" I sarcastically replied.

"I don't know, I'm just saying. We don't know who they are; maybe they like to kidnap people who become stranded on this island. They kidnap them and then eat them. Maybe that's what happened to Dawn!" Ash shouted. Suddenly a picture of Dawn sitting in a giant pot of boiling water screaming and waving her hands in the air floated through both of our minds. Ash started to get nervous at the thought.

"Oh no, they didn't even season the water!" he yelled.

"Calm down, I don't think that they ate Dawn and I don't think that they are going to eat us. They'll probably interrogate us or something." I said. Suddenly Ash turned bright red and it looked as though he was holding his breath.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

He slowly turned to me and stuttered as he tried to talk, "Paul what if…"

Now another picture was floating through our minds; The natives brought her back to the village and then brought her to their leader and he thought that she looked pretty and then he took her back to his room and then…let's just say that it wasn't consensual. Now both of us were bright highlight red. It did make me extremely nervous because that possibility had a large chance of being a reality. We both stood up at the same time and both said, "We better go find her" simultaneously. I tried breaking the bars down and Ash tried chipping at the walls, but regardless of our efforts we couldn't find a way out. That's when a couple of natives walked into the building and stood in front of the cell.

"The Queen would like to speak to you." One of them said.

Ash and I both relaxed at the thought of a Queen rather than a King. Because if these people are ruled by a Queen then that means that Dawn was probably not…well you know. They released us and guided us out of the building and once again through the village, but this time they brought us to the center of the town. There was a large group of people standing there and as the guards brought us closer, then people started moving out of our way.

That's when we finally stood before the Queen, but she had her back to us so we couldn't see her face.

"My Queen, we have brought the prisoners." A Guard said.

"Thank you." She replied.

She was thin and small, had gold braces on her upper arms and wore a long white dress, something you might see Cleopatra wear, and she also had long blue hair and…wait…long blue hair?! "Hey guys!" Dawn yelled as she revealed herself to be the queen. She jumped and caught both of us in a tight hug, "How are you?"

"We…we're fine." Ash responded.

She let go of us and smiled. Ash and I both exhaled as it was a relief knowing that she was ok, "Dawn we were so worried!" Ash yelled.

"I wasn't." I threw in there.

"We thought that you might have been eaten!" Ash exclaimed.

"Or raped." I added.

"Or sacrificed!"

I looked at Ash in confusion, "Sacrificed? When did we think of sacrificed?"

"Oh I thought of it on our way out of the cell."

Dawn giggled, "Sorry to worry you guys, but I'm fine, see?" she said as she spun around in a circle.

"How did you even become Queen? It's only been a day?" I asked her.

"I also want to know." Ash said.

"Well you see, I was drawing in the woods when some of the villagers kidnapped me and brought me back to their village, that's when I met the prince, prince Darius. He said that I would be perfect for the position of Queen as their last Queen accidently fell into the volcano and-" That's when I cut her off, "Wait hold on…where are my sandals?"

"They are in my suit case."

"Why are they in your suitcase?!"

"Because they didn't fit in yours."

"But I already checked your suitcase."

"Did you look under my sweaters?"

"…no"

"Exactly." She laughed.

I rolled my eyes, "Ok whatever, we found you so now we can go back. Before me and Ash left, the pilot told us that the rescue boat was on the way so come one let's go." I said as I grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her away. That's when all of the guards held spears at me and Dawn pulled her wrist out of my grip. "Paul wait. I'm not going anywhere, I'm…going to stay here." She said.

I looked at her, "What do you mean stay here? You can't live here forever."

"Look Paul, these people have been SO nice to me ever since I became their Queen. They do whatever I ask, and they feed me whatever I want and they're never mean to me."

"What? And you're saying that I'm mean to you?" I harshly asked her.

"No, that's not what I meant, it's just that they really care about me and they need me."

"B…but I built us a house." I defended.

"Paul, we've already been through this, it's not a house."

I gritted my teeth as I was getting sick of arguing with her about this. "It's…a house." I spat.

"Totally a house." Ash added.

Dawn looked at both of us, "Since when have you two become such good friends?" she questioned.

"That's unimportant, now come on we have to go." I said.

Dawn started rubbing her arm and fidgeted around a little bit. "Paul, I was serious, I'm staying."

Ash could feel the tension in the air, so he decided that it would be best to leave us alone, "I'll see you back at the camp." He said before heading back to the beach. I looked at her; I guess I didn't realize that she was full on serous about staying here.

"I really like it here, and I don't have any other opportunity to be a Queen. Can you imagine how many people dream of being in power and never have the chance to, but I do." I looked at her, I can't really stop her. If she doesn't want to come back with me, then who am I to tell her no?

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

She smiles, "I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life. But…to be honest, I'm really going to miss you. We've been traveling together for years and it's not like you haven't made an impression on me. I'll never forget all of the fights we have gotten into and I'll never forget all the times you made someone else cry. It'll be so weird not having you around. But it's not like I'll forget you or anything, you're too mean for me to forget. This is a whole other chapter in my life that I can't wait to experience. I hope things go well for you Paul; your skills could take you anywhere you want, as long as you allow them to. Try not to destroy too many lives, ok?" she said as she smiled as brightly as ever. She hugged me so tight that I thought that she might actually kill me.

"Good bye Paul."

She let go of me and waved good bye, I started walking away to catch up with Ash, before walking into the forest, I took one last look back; she really did look happy, I guess this really was good bye. I turned back around and walked into the forest with my hands in my pockets and my usual apathetic look on my face.

* * *

This was almost too weird to explain. Could you imagine how this conversation is going to go when I eventually talk to Reggie?

"Hey where's Dawn?"

"Oh, she became Queen of a group of villagers on some remote island."

That's going to be so odd. The forest is suddenly so quiet, maybe because I'm alone. I remember when I used to be so acclimated to being by myself, but because of that troublesome girl, it isn't an average thing for me. But I'm sure I can do perfectly fine without her. If she wants to rule a stupid kingdom, then I'll let her. I have realistic things to do, like winning a league. Now that I think about it, what am I going to do with her pokemon? We gave them to nurse joy to have sent over to Kalos so that they didn't have to ride the plane with us, but what do I do with them? I don't want them, I guess I could just give them-"Paul!" At hearing my name, I turn around only to see Ash sprinting towards me. He runs up to me and comes to a screeching stop. He was breathing roughly and sweat was just dripping down his face.

"Paul…Paul…Paul." He was just too tired to talk.

"Say what you're going to say." I harshly spat.

"Dawn, its Dawn."

"What about her?"

"They…they are going to sacrifice her! I was right!"

"What do you mean they're going to sacrifice her?!" I asked him as I was becoming impatient.

"I…on my way back to the beach, I had stopped because I had to pee. That's when two of the natives walked by and I heard them talking about the sacrificial ceremony of the Queen. They said that tonight when they official crown her queen, that they are going to throw her into the volcano as a sacrifice to the volcano god!"

"WHAT!" I yelled, this was completely unexpected. "We have to go warn her!" Ash suggested as we broke out into a full on sprint back towards the village. Jumping over rocks, dodging trees, trying not to slip on mud, man this was exhausting.

* * *

We get to the village's entrance and stop in front of the guards who held out their spears, "Halt, what business do you have here?" one of the guards asked.

"Ummm...we…umm" Ash tried to think of something to say so I just decided to step in. "We need to speak to the Queen." I said.

The guards looked at each other and then looked back at us, "I'm sorry but we cannot let you in, the Queen's induction ceremony will be starting soon and we can't have any interruptions." The guard said. We tried to convince them to let us in, but it didn't worked, so we just walked away. "What now?" Ash asked me. I thought for a second, "We need to find another way in." I said. So we ran around to the other side of the village and snuck in back. We hid behind trees and buildings as to not get caught. We figured that she would be in the biggest building, so we just climbed in one of the windows and looked around the building. We finally came to the room that we saw Dawn in, she was alone, thank god, so we quietly walked in.

"Dawn, hey Dawn." I whispered.

She looked over at us and gasped, "What are you guys doing here?" she whispered back.

"We came to save you." Ash said.

"What do you mean save me? I'm fine."

"No you don't understand, they are going to sacrifice you tonight. They are going to throw you in the volcano." Ash explained.

Dawn narrowed her eyes at us, "Is this some sort of plan to convince me to go back with you?"

"What? No, we're telling the truth." I tried to reason.

"I can't believe you guys would deliberately try and trick me!" she whispered angrily.

I rolled my eyes, "You're pathetic, you honestly think that they would just pick some random girl out of the forest, and trust them to be their queen. And YOU out of all people!"

She gasped at my harsh statement, "Wow, now I know how you really feel, I never knew that you had such little hope in me. That's it, out. Get out!" she yelled.

Which was actually pretty loud considering the fact that we whispered the entire conversation up to this point.

"But Dawn." Ash said.

"No! Out! Guards!" Suddenly several armed villagers flooded into the room.

"I'm sorry guys, but I'll release you after my induction ceremony is finished." She said as she commanded the guards to lock us up.

"And I saw what you drew on my face!" She yelled before we were dragged out of the building.

* * *

They threw us into the cell, roughly if I might add. "Now be good and stay here." One of the guards sarcastically said to us. The guards all left the room and all went to the ceremony that was going to be starting soon.

"Ash We HAVE to get out of here, they are going to kill her." I said.

"I know, we have to hurry. Here, we can just use my hatchet." Ash pulled a hatchet out of…I'm not sure from where.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I found it."

"Well either way these logs are pretty thick so it might take awhile to cut through one of them." I explained. "Well we better get started."

* * *

It took SO long to finally break through one of the logs. After a lot of elbow grease, we cut through it enough where we could kick it down, leaving a gap big enough for us to slip through.

"Come on, the ceremony is bound to have started already." I yelled.

We ran out of the building only to see the town empty. "Where is everyone?!" Ash asked. I looked around until something caught my eyes. "The volcano!"

We started running in that direction, not even stopping to catch our breath. I sure enough wasn't going to stop, for all we know they could have already sacrificed her. That thought only made me run faster. And I know what you're thinking, "Why do I care now and not when I was ready to leave her here without putting up a fight?" Well the answer to that is that there is a difference between someone being dead, and not seeing them but knowing that they're alive and well. Huge difference. The air was becoming more thick and the temperature began to rise more and more the closer we got to the volcano. As we got closer, I started to hear the sound of Dawn's shrill screams. Ash and I looked at each other and then nodded our heads, we looked to our left and at a distance, we could see the villagers, and we could see Dawn. She had her Queen's crowd alright, but she was also laying on her back, tied to a board and being carried up the incline. Her arms were tied down, but her legs were free, so you can imagine how much she was kicking them around. We tried to run up to her but guards held spears at us, which forced us to stay at a distance.

"Dawn!" I yelled.

She stopped screaming and turned her head towards me. "Guys, Oh my god I'm so glad you're here!"

"We were right weren't we!" Ash yelled.

"Can we not do this right now?!" she screamed.

"No, we want to here it!" I added.

She sighed begrudgingly, "Fine! You were right! Now get me out of here!"

We tried to get closer to her but man can those villagers run fast. They sped ahead of us and made a B-line for the volcano.

"Damn them and their stamina." I cursed under my breath.

We sprinted to catch up with them and this chase came to an end as we reached the volcano. The villagers stop just at the edge of the cliff and held Dawn next to them.

"What is going on?!" I heard a voice yell.

Out of the crowd of villagers stepped a thin boy wearing the same gold braces as Dawn and a large crown on his head. 'That must be the prince.' I thought. "They're trying to stop the ceremony." Informed one of the guards. The prince looked at us and frowned, "Why are you outsiders interfering with our rituals?" he asked. "Because that's our friend you're trying to sacrifice!" Ash yelled. The prince sighed, "-sigh- guards." Suddenly we were surrounded, "Now if you don't mind, I have a ceremony to finish." He said as one of the guards handed him a knife. They stood Dawn upright, and she tensed up as the prince stepped close to her.

"No, don't do this Darius!" she begged, but to no avail.

"I'm sorry Queen, but this IS what has to be done. This is what happened to the Queen before you and the queen before her, did you honestly think that she just accidentally walked into a volcano? Haha, it's pretty big, it'd be hard to miss. Ok enough with the jokes, it's nothing personal, it's just pleasing the gods." He lifted the knife in the air and my eyes widened as I was so sure that he was about to stab her.

"Dawn!" Ash yelled as he pulled his hatchet back out and threw it in her direction. It landed perfectly in a way that it cut the ropes restraining her but didn't hurt her.

"Nice shot." I told him.

"Thanks."

Now that she was released, without hesitation, Dawn shoved Darius. He fell backwards and stood on his tip toes at the edge of the volcano. He started tipping back, but grabbed Dawn's hair in the process, which in turn pulled her down with him. Everyone gasped, thinking that they both fell into the magma, but luckily Dawn had grabbed the edge of the cliff and was now keeping the both of them from falling to their doom. The prince tried to climb up her by holding onto her hair, so she elbowed him in the face. He lost his grip on her hair and grabbed onto her ankle, which caused Dawn to lose her grip, good thing she was able to grab onto another ledge. The guards stopped paying attention to Ash and I and were now trying to save their prince. They grabbed vines and such and started lowering a sort of rope down for him, but Dawn was not going to let them save him but not her. She started climbing up the vine, kicking the prince while doing so. The natives tried to push her off of the vine so Ash and I found our own vine and lowered it for her. Now here's the situation; Dawn and the prince are on separate vines but were right next to each other.

While each team tried to pull up their person, the royalty on the vines were fighting each other, as were we. The natives tried throwing rocks at us so I threw dust in their faces. The prince, who still had his knife tried to cut Dawn's line, so she put her feet on the wall of the volcano and pushed herself backwards, which sent her flying into the air. She was about to fall back into the volcano, but Ash and I caught her, each of us holding one of her arms. We pulled her up, and went to run away when Dawn stopped us, "Hold on, I have to finish something!" she ran over, and picked up the hatchet that was still on the ground. She then jump kicked one of the guards holding the rope, which confused all of them long enough to allow her to cut the vine which sent the prince plummeting to his death. All of the villagers gasped in horror, so I grabbed Dawn and we sprinted into the forest.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL?!" I yelled in complete surprise at her actions.

She could have left him alone and went home, but no, she HAD to destroy him first.

"HE TRIED TO KILL ME!" she tried to reason.

I don't think that's a good enough excuse to do something SO awful, but there is LITERALLY nothing I can do about it now.

* * *

By the time we got to the beach, my lungs felt like they were burning. I had never run so much and so fast in my entire life. Ash, Dawn, and I sat down in the sand and just enjoyed our safety, we were all alive so there was nothing to worry about. I looked over at our suitcases and picked myself off of the ground and slowly walked over to them. I grabbed one of them, slowly unzipped it and dug through it.

"Here are my sandals!"

* * *

About 20 minutes after we returned from that incident, the rescue boat came, thank god. With everyone finally onboard, the ship sailed away from this dreadful island. Ash was the first of us to hit the buffet table. If he ate any fast, he might have asphyxiated himself. Dawn wasn't hungry because her 'subjects' had fed her before the ceremony. Me personally? Well I had lost my appetite after I watched someone burn alive in boiling lava. It had grown dark outside, so Dawn and I were sitting at the edge of the boat just admiring the stars.

"Wow, what a day." Dawn laughed. "You know a week ago, we would have never guessed that we'd be here."

I sighed and pushed the hair out of my face, "What? The 'you almost dying' part, or the 'you killed a person' part?" I said.

She then laughed nervously, "Both I guess." A tranquil silence fell between us, it was nice. The cool wind blew through the warm night air. The moon lit up the sky and it's reflection on the water created such a serene atmosphere.

"Thanks for helping me out Paul." Dawn suddenly said.

"Whatever, it was Ash that overheard them talking about sacrificing you. If it weren't for him then you'd probably be dead. So he's the one you should be thanking. You stupid loser." I explained.

She frowned at my apathy, "You can never make things easy can you. You HAVE to turn everything into an argument!"

"You're the one starting an argument, besides, if you just listened to me in the first place, none of that would have happened. You are just lucky that I went back for you, I was about to leave you."

"I'm not surprised!"

"Next time I just might leave you!"

"You better not!"

"Or what?! You'll throw me into the volcano too?!"

Dawn nodded her head.

"I know you would, just like you did to prince Darius!" I yelled.

"You know what? I won't throw you in the volcano, because your cold heart will just freeze it over!"

"My heart's cold? At least I don't burn people alive!"

"At least I know how to build a real house!"

It became dead silent in-between us. Dawn broke out in a laugh and I just sighed. Even though this sort of thing is normal for us, sometimes I just can't handle her. Years and years of knowing her, and no matter how many times I tell her not to be so careless, she still finds a way to get us in situations that most people never get into. Imagine years from now, I'll be telling someone about my odd friend from childhood. And the thing is, I know that she's going to continue to get us into these weird situations, but I guess it does make life interesting. Dawn finished up laughing and wiped a tear from her eye. She looked at me, and I looked at her. I guess things really would have been different if she wasn't here. Ash and I are friends now I guess, but Dawn's more, she's…my BEST friend. What? Thought I was going to say something else? Nope. But she does hold a special place in my heart. The wind blew our hair in such a slow graceful manner. The stars shone bright and the moon reflected off of the cool ocean water. The silence was nice and serene, so much so that I leaned in close to her and planted a small kiss on her soft lips. We slowly pulled away from each other and blushed. I didn't kiss her because I like her or anything it's just, I guess I was still a little shaken up by the fact that I almost lost my best friend to a bunch of crazy natives. I didn't say that it bothered me, but it did. Her entire existence was almost snatched from me, and so, I was still feeling a little overwhelmed. Maybe that's why I kissed her, and not for any reason other then that. After a moment or two of silence, I cleared my throat.

"So ummm, you dropped your sketchbook in the forest." I reached into my jacket, pulled it out and handed it to her.

"Ummm thanks."She replied back.

Suddenly we heard a door open and Ash stepped out onto the deck. "Hey guys, they're having a Jenga contest, want to join?"

Dawn turned to me and smiled.

"No." I harshly replied as I crossed my arms.

But of course she grabbed my arm and dragged me with her to enter the contest. I wasn't looking forward to this.

Of course the Jenga tower had to fall on my turn. This is an outrage so I kicked over the fern. There's no getting away from her it's just how things seem to be. We've created a routine that has become so normal to me. It used to be just me, myself, and I. But she came into my life and refuses to say goodbye. I've allowed her to change me, more then I'd like. She's gotten under my skin just like a spike. But regardless of what I say or what I think or what I do. She means a lot to me, and more then you'd know. I know that you've heard me say this all before. But it's true so I guess I'll continue to tell you more. Our relationship will only continue to ascend. This is a road that will never hit a dead end. How things are going I never did intend. But I guess it's whatever, it's just me and my best friend.

* * *

**DAYUMMMMMM! Are you guys happy with the progress they are making? So am I!**

**This chapter was really long, but I'm not trying to do that, I just don't want to break up chapters so they end up really long.**

**I'm sorry if anyone is agitated about the long wait but I hope this makes up for it. :D**

**Hope to see you again when I type the next chapter!**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, It's like 3 in the morning. I don't have the brain capacity to come up with a clever pun for the title. I'll do it in the morning so if it says that I updated again, then you know what it is. Too tired to think of anything to say, I just had a super desire to right the next chapter so I did. Yay for you guys.**

**Here's chapter 7...I think?**

* * *

The music was so loud that I could literally feel the beats vibrating through my body. People were dancing and screaming and talking to friends. I don't understand why or how Dawn knows so many people. I couldn't even take two steps without bumping into someone. It's Dawn's birthday and you can only imagine how over the top it is. So if you really must know it has been a couple years since the island incident, it's weird because she never talks about it. She acts as if it never happened even though it clearly did. But whatever, nothing as crazy as that has happened since then, and I am grateful for it. Things have been pretty normal for us: me training and battling, her designing outfits. The only really interesting thing that has happened to us is that this one time a while back, we were walking down the street late at night after attending this stupid horror movie and we just happened to run into some crazy guy who tried to mug us. Me being who I am, defended her, but in the process I got stabbed in the arm. It's healed now but I still have the scar; it makes me feel like some sort of gang member who was battle wounds, but that's not the case. Oh, and there was the one time when we were at this really fancy restaurant and she caught on fire. Ash was trying to impress some girl or something and he asked if we could just double date with him. I don't know why he used the word date, it's not like me and Dawn are dating, but whatever. So when he asked, I wanted to say no but of course Dawn was like, "Yes we'd love to" and so I was forced to tag along. Long story short, at some point during dinner she found herself to close to the candles on the table and her hair caught on fire so she had to cut it. Yeah, she's still recovering, her hair has grown some since then but it's still shorter then it was before. Other than that, nothing big has happened so you haven't missed anything.

Right now she is standing next to me as we walk through the crowds of people that fill her backyard. The moon and stars light up the night sky and the party lights that line her house give off a multicolored shimmer that truly makes this a celebration. Glitter decorates the Everest green grass and streamers hang from any and every tree branch that isn't already covered in glow in the dark body paint. The DJ that her mother hired to entertain the guests had a disco ball and laser lights that only added to the rave like overtone of the event. Dawn was beyond pleased with the outcome and nothing made her happier then hanging out with ALL of her many friends. At first I thought that most of the guests were random people who saw something interesting and decided to just show up. But Dawn seemed to know everybody so I guess that wasn't really the case. Damn her and her socialite nature.

While walking through the crowd, a guy who stood just a little shorter than me and had short brown hair came up to us.

"Hey Dawn I just wanted to tell you Happy birthday, you looking great you know?" He confidently said.

She blushed a little and then smiled, "Thanks Gary, it's nice to see you."

He opened his mouth to say something when he turned his head and noticed me glaring daggers at him. He started to sweat a little from nerves and also started stuttering. "Ummm, ye…yeah so…I'll see you later Dawn." He said as he suddenly disappeared into the crowd. I smirked a little to myself as I was satisfied with his decision.

'It was smart of him to vanish.' I thought to myself.

Suddenly I felt Dawn roughly slap my chest, "Stop it!" she complained.

"What exactly am I doing wrong?" I asked her.

"Every time a guy tries to talk to me then you like…push them away or you intimidate them until they leave." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, "Hn, I don't know what you're talking about."

* * *

It's been a couple of hours and finally her birthday cake was brought out. Saying that it was big would be a huge understatement. We had to stand on the roof to be able to even reach the top. Don't know what baker was able to do this but they must be really good because it was marvelous. Can you imagine how that conversation went?

"Hi I'd like to place an order for a birthday cake for my daughter."

"Oh great, how many guests do you think you will be serving?"

"Oh, you know, maybe a couple hundred people."

They must have been in the bakery for days straight, those poor people. Oh well, sucks for them. The cake was nice though. It had pearly light pink frosting, and glitter covered white frosting flowers that cascaded down the side. 16 pink candles circled the top of the ginormous cake and it is amazing that someone was able to light them without sustaining any injuries. The crowd screamed and shouted in excitement as Dawn beamed with joy and waved at the guests. With her ready to blow out the candles, the crowd started to sing 'Happy Birthday' in a conjoined manner. But even though we were standing on top of the roof, she was still shorter than the top of the cake. She struggled to try and blow out the candles; she even got to the point where she was standing on her tip toes, but no luck. I wrapped my hands around her small waist and lifted her in the air high enough to reach her goal. On blowing out the candles, the crowd cheered and started clapping. I put her back on the ground; she wrapped her arm around my neck and caught me in a small hug. You would think that I would be more objective to this but we have been best friends for years, I'd be a fool not to be used to it.

* * *

Dawn says that I'm too protective, she obviously doesn't know what she's talking about. So what if I started multiple fights over the course of the night, I'm not the problem, they are. This one guy kept putting his hands on her when she obviously told him to stop. So I just happened to put my fist in his face even though he told me to stop. And this one other guy grabbed the back of her skirt and tried pulling at it. I punched him so hard that not only did I break his nose; I knock that jerk out cold. I mean, I don't know why anyone would dare touch what's mine.

* * *

It's over, the party is finally over, and everyone went home. Dawn is drunk out of her mind so I 'm helping her up to her room. And before you get any ideas it's nothing like that. Honestly I am a tid bit drunk too but not nearly as much as her. This isn't the first time she's been drunk either; I'm not calling her an alcoholic or anything, it's just that this has happened before. We walked up the stairs and down the hallway, or at least I walked up the stairs and down the hallway and she aimlessly stumbled in my direction.

"Paul I shthink that you are shooo aweshlome." She slurred.

I rolled my eyes, "yeah yeah whatever."

"Best friends for…forever." She laughed.

I opened her bedroom door and started guiding her in. At the corner of my eye, I could see her piplup standing in the hallway. I looked at him and he winked at me like 5 times and gave me a thumbs up. I just shook my head and ignore his obvious gesture. Once we were in her room, she kicked off her shoes and jumped onto her bed. While she was occupied, I walked downstairs, filled a glass of water and brought it back to her.

"Here, you need to drink some water, it will help sober you out." I said.

"I…I don't wantch water." She drunkingly replied.

I sighed, "Come on, just drink it."

She ignore my suggestion and turned on the television; a teen slasher movie was on and for some reason it excited her. "Oooo come watch a horror movie with me Paul!" she sang.

"I don't want to watch it." I told her.

"B…but this…thi…this is the best time chew watch them." I looked at her and shook my head. "I'll drink the water if chyou watch this with me." She negotiated.

I sighed, "Fine."

I handed her the glass of water as I made myself comfortable on her bed. "Yay! Movie chime!" she yelled in glee. We watched as the teenage girl was brutally chopped to death by the psychotic killer that was on the loose. You know, for someone who is beyond beyond wasted, she was pretty calm watching all of that carnage, especially considering that she laughed at a couple parts. That is really a concern that I'll have to address in the future.

* * *

The sun ripped through the thin pink curtains that hung in front of her window. I slowly opened my eyes and scratched the back of my head. My hands are still a bit bruised from all of the fights I had gotten into last night, wait…LAST NIGHT! I rolled over and realized that I had fallen asleep in Dawn's room with her. I sighed and decided that there was nothing I could do about it now. I stretched my arms out and yawned. Dawn was still asleep, and by asleep…I really mean ASLEEP. She was knocked out; her hair was all messed up and she was drooling all over the place and her face was basically glued to her pillow. You might have a picture in your minds that we had fallen asleep in some cute spooning manner, but I am here to tell you that that was clearly not the case, not even close. I rolled out of bed and gruntingly made my way down the hallway. I walked down stairs and slowly walked by the kitchen when I realized that her mom was in there cooking breakfast. I thought that maybe I could sneak by her but that was to no avail.

"Good morning Paul, I see that you're still here." She suddenly said.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked her as I stood in the doorway.

She laughed, "Hun, if Dawn's here, then you're here too. You two are always together." She explained.

"Oh" was all I could really say to that, I don't think that we are ALWAYS together like everyone tells me but whatever, no point in arguing.

"I see you stayed in her room." She said.

My face reddened a little at her insinuation, "No wait, it's not what you think, we didn't…"

She laughed again and then waved her spatula at me. "Oh calm down, I was just kidding." She giggled. "I don't really think that that was what you two were up to. I know that you would never do something like that."

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Really?" I'm not saying that I would do something like that but it was just weird because she had so much trust in me.

"Yeah, you are a really nice guy." She said, but then she stopped and reworded her statement, "I mean not personality wise because honestly you can be a bit of a cold jerk, no offense, but you just don't seem like the type of guy who would just take advantage of her or anything."

It was true, I wasn't the type who would take advantage of a girl like that, I just feel like it's really low down and grimy to have to stoop to that level. A cynical smile stretched across her face and she giggled.

"Besides, you guys ARE only 'best friends'." She teased.

I didn't like how she said that, she was hinting at something. "What are you trying to say?" I asked her.

"I don't even know how you guys still hold that title, you are practically married." She said.

"What?! No we're not!" I defended.

"You definitely are, you'd have to be blind not to see it. You Paul are SOOO possessive of her." She said as she moved her hands in a clawing motion. "Anytime a guy tries to talk to her, whether they are just friends or not, you get so defensive. It is really adorable. I never have to worry when Dawn is out because I know that if anyone were to bother her that you would be the first one on the scene. Do you know why she hasn't dated anyone in a while? It's because you are always getting in her way. Now I'm not saying that she doesn't harbor feelings for you, but even if she liked someone else then she really doesn't have an option now does she?" Johanna joked.

I crossed my arms, "I think that you are over exaggerating." I said.

She shook her head and smiled, "And the funny thing is that I really am not. Go ahead and ask someone else, they'll tell you the same thing. Now go wash your hands and wake up sleeping beauty, breakfast is almost ready."

* * *

After breakfast, which was good by the way, I took a shower and put myself together. Dawn laid on the couch and rested while watching TV. She has a hangover because she didn't drink enough water even though I told her to have more and she refused. Ash was still in town because he attended Dawn's birthday party so we decided to have lunch. It was at this small café in the heart of town, it had a nice view of the town so we sat at a table outside. Ash was going on about his relationship with his girlfriend Misty. Something about her calling him dense, which I agree with 100%. I was only half listening because my mind was still occupied with what Johanna said. Ash was in the middle of a sentence but that didn't stop me from cutting him off.

"You don't think that I'm too possessive of Dawn do you?" I suddenly ask him.

He looks at me and then tries to divert his eyes from mine, "Yikes." He whispered under his breath.

"You do think that don't you?!" I yelled in disbelief.

"It's not that it's just, you sometimes tend to get a little…aggressive and protective. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that, it's just that…you might want to tone it down." He suggested.

"I'm not trying to be aggressive, it's just that...I don't like when other people try to come into my territory."

"See? That's the problem with your thinking; she's not your territory."

"But she's MY best friend."

"But you're not treating her like a friend; you're treating her like a girlfriend." Ash blatantly said.

I didn't know how to respond to what he said, he was making a lot of sense which was weird for him.

"Look Paul, it's obvious that you have feelings for her." He said.I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off, "No matter how much you deny it!" he yelled. "And if you want her off of the market then you have got to make it official. Because right now, whenever anyone asks her if she's seeing anyone then she says no right? Well you want her to say yes because then you don't have to ever worry about her being bought by someone else."

Everything he was saying made sense all the way up until that point. It took him a second but then he realized what he said, "Wait wait wait, I didn't mean it like that. I don't literally mean her being bought, I just meant…you know…dating someone else and junk." It wasn't the most glorious save but it got the point across. "You just have to be upfront with her, you can never go wrong with that. But knowing you, you'd probably be more upfront then you need to be." He whispered under his breath. I decided to ignore his final statement and thought about what else he said. 'Being upfront huh? I'm pretty good at doing that, or at least that's what Dawn tells me. I can't believe I'm taking advice from this loser. But I guess I could try it.'

* * *

I happened to mention to one of my Pokemon, my plans for tonight, and somehow ALL of them know now, all of Dawn's pokemon know too. As soon as I returned to her house, the pokemon were all waiting in the front yard. They fixed my hair and dusted off my jacket; one of them gave me mint gum and another one handed me a rose. What was I supposed to do with this? Give it to her? That's stupid; I don't know what difference it would make. I finally pushed my way through them and walked through the front door. Dawn wasn't on the couch anymore, apparently she felt much better than she did this morning. She was in the kitchen looking for food in the fridge. I walked right up to her and handed her the flower.

"Thanks?" she hesitantly said.

At that point I had no desire to drag this on, so I was pretty straight with her. "Alright enough of that, I want to talk to you." I said.

She was a bit thrown off by my sudden request but she didn't deny it."Ummm, ok? Where do yo-" I didn't even let her finish her sentence before I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the front door and down the street.

* * *

I ended up bringing us to this very floral park that was in town. I didn't pick the location because it was pretty or anything, I picked it because it was empty. It's dark outside by now and I know what you're thinking. Why are they always doing things at night? I don't know, it just seems to be a very eventful time of day. We stood there in silence, in the center of the park, as I basically stared her down. She started to fidget around a bit as the silence was making her uncomfortable.

"Sooooo…what'd you want to talk about?" she finally asked, trying to break the ice.

"I don't like when you talk to other guys." I harshly said.

Her eyes twitched a little at my underdetailed, underexplained statement. "Ummm, is that all?"

"You have a drinking problem."

She gasped at what I said and took a step back. "I definitely do not!" she defended.

"The first step to recovery is acceptance." I told her.

"I don't have a problem!"

"Yes you do!"

"Look! Let's just ignore that for a second and go back to the first thing you said, about my interaction with others. What was that all about?" she asked.

Damn, this is the part that I have trouble with; I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to say. I've never had to deal with a situation like this, but I guess I can just do what I do best, be straight up with people.

"Look, I want you to be mine." I said as I crossed my arms.

She stood there in shock for a moment, not sure if I was being serious.

"Are…are you asking me out Paul?" she asked me.

I didn't say anything, and I didn't look at her. Why should I even give her the satisfaction of an answer? Suddenly I felt her jump into my arms and snuggled her cheek up against mine.

"Of course I'll go out with you snugglebuns!" she yelled.

Oh God, why did I go through with this, now she's touching me and hugging me and giggling at my inexperience in this subject matter. She smashed her lips up against mine in a rough kiss; she seriously wasted no time in violating my personal space. She let go of me and her face was so red that you might mistake her for the rose that she was still holding in her hands.

"Oh my God, it turned out so much less cold then I imagine it to be." She giggled.

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "You thought that I would be meaner?" I asked her.

She laughed and scratched the back of her head, "Haha, yeah. I thought that you would do it on like, my death bed or something."

"Wow, I see what hope you had in me."

"Don't take it so hard Paul, it's just that you tend to be…extremely unromantic." How dare she exploit my weaknesses right in front of me, I turned my face away from her. She giggled at my actions and then interlocked her hands into mine. I looked at her and blushed just a little, JUST A LITTLE and she laughed.

"You truly are the cutest thing ever Paul." She teased.

Again with the physical contact, but I guess it wasn't all bad. We looked each other in the eyes, and slowly but surely leaned in for a kiss. This one I actually approved of considering the fact that the last one she planted on me was not consensual. Her lips were so sweet and soft, and above anything it was a relief knowing that no one else could have her.

Things got a little carried away, more then I'd like to admit. But it's not like it's anything that she didn't permit. She is now mine and no one can take her away. And I don't have to worry about ever being betrayed. Her small framed figure fits perfectly in my arms. A place where no one would ever dare to do her any harm. I never thought I'd be here, dating her as I am. Caring for her existence, and not telling her to scram. This hasn't made me different; I'm ambitious and I'm cold. The only difference now, is that I have a title to uphold. I'm happy with my life so far, I'm satisfied with this game. Just the thought that maybe, she'll eventually take my last name. I guess this is good bye for now, I'll talk to you another day. I'm just far too occupied, I have nothing left to say. Will things work out between us? It really all depends. But I guess it's whatever, its just me and my girlfriend.

* * *

**Awww wasn't that cute?! I hope so because I am like dying. I have to wake up early for class tomorrow too so I hope you guys are happy.**

**Hope to see you soon.**

**-Love VideoGameChic**


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